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SERIES  XXX  NO.   3 

JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

Historical  and  Political  Science 

Under  the  Direction  of  the 

Departments  of  History,  Political  Economy,  and 

Political  Science 


ADMISSION  TO  AMERICAN  TRADE 
UNIONS 


BY 


F.  E.  WOLFE,  PH.D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  Colby  College 


BALTIMORE 

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Political  Science 


VOLUME  XXX 


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L^ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Pagb 

I.  Recent  Administration  in  Virginia.    By  F.  A.  Magruder      i 
II.  The   Standard  Rate  in   American   Trade  Unions.    By 

D.  A.  McCabe  205 

III.  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions.    By  F.  E.  Wolfe  455 


ADMISSION  TO  AMERICAN  TRADE 
UNIONS 


SERIES  XXX  NO.  3 

JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

IN 

Historical  and  Political  Science 

Under  the  Direction  of  the 

Departments  of  History,  Political  Economy,  and 

Political  Science 


ADMISSION  TO  AMERICAN  TRADE 
UNIONS 


BY 


F.  E.  WOLFE,  PH.D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in  Colby  College 


BALTIMORE 

THE  JOHNS   HOPKINS   PRESS 

zgi2 


Copyright  1912  by 
THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  PRESS 


Press  of 

Tnc  mew  Era  prirtirs  cobpait 

Larcaster.  Pa. 


/^I» 


ft- 


YJ25 


CONTENTS 

Pack 

Introduction 9 

I.  The  Control  of  Membership 11 

II.  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  34 

III.  Admission  by  Competency 61 

IV.  Admission  of  Women 74 

V.  Admission  of  Aliens 96 

VI.  Admission  of  Negroes 112 

VII.  Severance  of  Membership 135 

VIII.  Reinstatement  and  Readmission 150 

Conclusion   163 


PREFACE 

This  monograph  is  one  of  a  series  of  investigations  into 
the  activities  of  American  trade  unions  undertaken  by  the 
Economic  Seminary  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  The 
chief  documentary  sources  for  the  study  have  been  the  large 
collection  of  trade-union  documents  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University.  Materials  at  the  national  headquarters  of  the 
more  important  unions  have  also  been  consulted.  Such 
study  has  been  supplemented  by  personal  observation  and 
interviews  with  labor  leaders  in  the  principal  industrial  cen- 
ters in  the  United  States. 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  the  assistance  received 
at  every  stage  of  the  work  from  Professor  J.  H.  Hollander 
and  Professor  G.  E.  Barnett. 


ADMISSION  TO  AMERICAN  TRADE  UNIONS 


INTRODUCTION 

A  trade  union  is  legally  empowered  by  reason  of  its  vol- 
untary character  to  determine  the  composition  of  its  own 
membership.^  Since  the  ease  and  eflectiveness  of  collective 
bargaining  increase  with  the  proportion  of  workmen  in- 
cluded in  the  combination,  every  trade  union  is  inclined  to 
admit  all  the  workmen  in  the  trade.  On  the  other  hand, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  trade-union  aims,  the  mainte- 
nance of  standards  of  workmanship,  and  the  enforcement  of 
discipline,  it  is  highly  important  that  conditions  should  be 
imposed  upon  membership.  These  conditions  often  exclude 
workmen  who  have  not  served  an  apprenticeship,  incompe- 
tent workmen,  and  other  classes  of  persons  who  are  regarded 
as  ineligible,  as  well  as  recalcitrants  and  suspended  and 
expelled  members.  Moreover,  admission  to  a  union  may 
be  restricted  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  additional  work- 
men from  the  trade  and  thus  decreasing  competition  for 
employment.  In  order  to  understand  the  extent  of  such  ex- 
clusion it  is  necessary  to  examine  in  detail  the  policy  of 
American  trade  unions  with  reference  to  the  acquisition  and 
retention  of  members. 

An  attempt  is  accordingly  made  in  the  present  study  to 
interpret  the  meaning  of  the  requirements  for  membership 
as   actually  enforced.     It   is   proposed,  first,  to   trace  the 

^In  rendering  the  majority  opinion  in  the  case  of  National  Pro- 
tective Association  v.  Gumming  (170  N.  Y.  315),  Chief  Justice 
Parker  of  the  court  of  appeals  asserted  that  the  competency  of 
labor  unions  to  restrict  membership  to  those  who  have  stood  a 
prescribed  test,  in  order  to  secure  careful  as  well  as  skillful  asso- 
ciates in  their  work,  "  is  a  matter  of  no  small  importance  in  view 
of  the  state  of  the  law  which  absolves  the  master  from  liability  for 
injuries  sustained  by  a  workman  through  the  carelessness  of  a 
co-employee." 


lO  Introduction  [464 

development  of  the  central  control  of  admission  regulations, 
as  having  an  important  influence  on  their  purpose  and  effect. 
The  apprenticeship  qualification  which  has  persisted  in 
trade-union  policy  from  early  times  will  next  be  examined 
in  order  to  indicate  its  significance  as  a  means  of  qualify- 
ing workmen.  It  will  then  be  necessary  to  make  clear  the 
force  of  the  requirement  of  competency,  the  most  wide- 
spread requisite  for  membership.  The  admission  of  women, 
of  aliens,  and  of  negroes  will  thereafter  be  considered  in 
order.  Finally,  the  conditions  necessitating  the  severance 
of  membership  by  withdrawal,  suspension,  or  expulsion, 
in  accordance  with  union  rules,  are  to  be  noted,  together 
with  the  requirements  for  reinstatement  or  readmission.  It 
will  then  be  possible  in  conclusion  to  summarize  the  policy 
and  tendency  of  trade-union  action  in  this  field. 


CHAPTER   I 

THE    CONTROL   OF    MEMBERSHIP 

The  history  of  the  regulations  of  American  trade  unions 
with  reference  to  securing  and  retaining  members  may  be 
roughly  divided  into  three  periods.  In  the  first,  extending 
from  the  beginning  of  the  century  to  about  1850,  the  pre- 
dominant type  of  labor  association  was  local  in  authority 
and  aim.  Membership  usually  conferred  beneficiary  rights 
as  well  as  such  trade  advantages  as  might  be  obtainable 
through  local  action.  Local  unions,  however,  began  at  an 
early  date  to  cooperate  with  a  view  to  extending  over  a 
wider  area  the  advantages  of  membership.  Prior  to  1825 
the  Printers  and  the  Cordwainers  had  concluded  agreements 
to  exclude  offending  journeymen  of  any  one  society  from  all 
the  others,  and  to  admit  on  favorable  terms  to  any  one 
society  persons  who  presented  certificates  of  membership 
from  any  other.^  The  Baltimore  Typographical  Society 
provided  in  its  constitution  of  1832  that  "any  person  pre- 
senting a  certificate  of  membership  from  another  typograph- 
ical society  shall  be  entitled  to  a  seat  as  a  member  and  enjoy 
all  the  benefits  of  this  society,  if  the  society  from  which  he 
comes  reciprocates  the  same  privilege."^  Similarly,  in  1846 
the  New  York  handloom  carpet  weavers  made  provision  for 
transmitting  to  all  other  factories  the  names  of  any  member 
violating  the  rules,  and  for  issuing  to  any  operative  leaving 
one  shop  a  certificate  of  membership,  which  must  be  pre- 

*  Barnett,  "  The  Printers  :  A  Study  in  American  Trade  Unionism," 
in  American  Economic  Association  Quarterly,  October,  1909,  pp. 
18-25 ;  Trial  of  the  Journeymen  Cordwainers  of  the  City  of  New 
York.  Reprinted  in  Documentary  History  of  American  Industrial 
Society,  Vol.  Ill,  edited  by  Commons  and  Gilmore,  pp.  366,  367; 
National  Trades  Union,  April  25,  1835,  p.  2,  col.  4.  Reprinted  in 
Documentary  History  of  American  Industrial  Society,  Vol.  VI, 
edited  by  Commons  and  Sumner,  p.  314. 

*Art.  XVIII;  Commons  and  Gilmore,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  366. 

II 


12  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [466 

sented  to  secure  favorable  admission  into  any  other  shop.^ 
Since  each  local  union  possessed  discretionary  power  to  ac- 
cept or  to  reject  workmen  from  other  unions,  this  form  of 
cooperation  was  uncertain.  It  marked,  however,  the  be- 
ginning, by  local  unions  within  a  trade,  of  common  regulation 
for  determining  and  extending  their  membership. 

Another  form  of  cooperation,  which  appeared  with  the 
movement  toward  general  union  from  1830  on,  was  the 
recommendation  by  a  central  convention  of  trades  of  the 
organization  of  certain  classes  of  workers.  For  example, 
the  National  Trades'  Union,  although  in  1835  it  directed 
the  workingmen  of  its  constituent  societies  "  to  oppose  by 
all  honest  means  the  multiplying  of  all  descriptions  of  labor 
for  females,"^  and  in  the  following  year  again  deplored  the 
evil  of  competition  with  women,  advised  the  trades  affected 
by  the  work  of  women  to  admit  them  to  membership  or  to 
organize  them  into  auxiliary  societies.^  Furthermore,  the 
National  Trades'  Union  at  this  time  sanctioned  the  forma- 
tion of  societies  composed  of  workmen  from  more  than  one 
trade,  or  the  admission  into  any  trade  society  of  workmen 
from  different  trades.*  The  Boston  cordwainers'  society 
in  1840  thus  extended  the  privileges  of  membership  to  out- 
side workmen  of  unorganized  trades.  This  liberal  policy 
was  seldom  adopted  as  a  means  of  securing  members,  inas- 
much as  it  involved  a  disregard  of  trade  lines.  The  local 
character  of  unionism  rendered  as  yet  impossible  the  formu- 
lation, and  much  less  the  enforcement,  of  a  concerted  plan 
with  reference  to  the  composition  of  union  membership. 

The  second  period,  from  1850  to  1880,  was  marked  by  the 
national   extension   of   organization.     In  many   trades  the 

I  Weekly  Tribune,  September  12,  1846.  Reprinted  in  Documentary 
History  of  American  Industrial  Society,  Vol.  VIII,  edited  by  Com- 
mons, p.  242. 

^Proceedings  of  National  Trades'  Union,  in  National  Trades' 
Union,  October  10,  1835,  pp.  2,  3.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and 
Sumner,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  250,  251. 

^  Proceedings  of  National  Trades'  Union,  in  National  Laborer, 
November  12,  1836,  pp.  133,  134.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Sum- 
ner, Vol.  VI,  pp.  279,  288. 

*  Commons  and  Sumner,  Vol.  VI,  p.  280. 


467]  The   Control   of  Membership  13 

local  unions  combined  into  national  organizations.  Admis- 
sion into  a  local  union  conferred  thenceforth  a  dual  status. 
The  connection  of  a  member  with  the  national  organization 
enhanced  the  privileges  of  membership  in  two  important 
respects:  (i)  Through  the  mechanism  of  the  "card  sys- 
tem "  a  local  union  under  the  national  pact  was  bound  to 
admit  worthy  members  and  to  exclude  offending  workmen 
of  other  unions.  Each  member  in  good  standing  by  ob- 
taining a  "  card  "  thus  secured  a  right  to  admission  into  any 
other  local  union.  The  advantage  of  excluding  the  expelled 
and  anti-union  workmen  of  one  local  union  by  others  was 
also  obtained  through  this  national  cooperation.  (2)  In 
case  disputes  or  difficulties  arose  between  a  local  union  and 
its  members  the  national  union  had  power  to  determine  the 
point  at  issue.  The  National  Typographical  Union/  the 
Iron  Molders,-  the  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,^  the  Cigar 
Makers/  and  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons^  soon  after  organ- 
ization undertook  to  decide  such  appeals.  In  many  cases  an 
appeal  was  taken  against  violations  of  the  interunion  mem- 
bership system.  If  one  local  union,  for  example,  refused  to 
admit  a  workman  who  presented  a  card  from  another  union, 
the  national  union  was  called  upon  to  adjust  the  dispute. 
A  member  of  any  local  union  who  complained  to  the  national 
union  against  an  unjust  expulsion  was  also  able  to  appeal 
and  obtain  a  rehearing  of  his  case.  In  this  way  every  mem- 
ber came  gradually  to  be  recognized  as  having  a  right  to 
appeal  against  any  violation  of  his  rights  by  the  local  union. 
For  many  years  after  the  beginning  of  national  organiza- 
tion, however,  the  local  unions  were  absolutely  free  to  reg- 
ulate admission  and  to  control  the  bringing  of  additional 
workmen  into  membership  within  their  respective  jurisdic- 
tions.    Later  in  this  period  the  activities  of  the  national 

^Barnett,  p.  33. 

*Iron  Molders'  Journal,  September,  1876,  p.  87;  Constitution, 
1876,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  5. 

^  Proceedings  of  Grand  Forge  of  United  Sons  of  Vulcan,  1870, 
pp.  13,  14;  Proceedings,  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,  1881,  p.  691. 

*  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  November  10,  1879,  p.  i. 

'  Proceedings,  1884,  p.  7. 


14  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [468 

unions  in  the  admission  of  members  developed  along  two 
important  lines :  ( i )  in  the  actual  organization  of  workmen, 
(2)  in  determining  what  class  or  classes  of  persons  at  work 
within  a  trade  should  be  eligible  to  membership. 

The  enforcement  of  the  card  system  and  the  decision  of 
appeals  from  members  tended  to  place  the  national  unions 
in  control  of  the  admission  of  expelled,  suspended,  and  anti- 
union workmen.  Thus  the  original  rule  requiring  each 
local  union  to  exclude  workmen  of  the  other  unions  expelled 
and  in  bad  standing  was  soon  modified  by  a  national  rule 
that  such  workmen  might  be  admitted  into  any  union  with 
the  consent  of  the  local  union  from  whose  jurisdiction  they 
came.^  In  time  of  strike  or  on  other  occasions  it  frequently 
occurred  that  local  unions  did  not  wait  to  procure  the  re- 
quired consent  of  another  union,  located  perhaps  in  a  dis- 
tant community,  before  admitting  applicants.  The  rule 
could  be  enforced  by  the  national  union  only  after  consid- 
erable friction  had  developed  among  local  unions  in  conse- 
quence of  its  violation.  Moreover,  in  time  of  business  de- 
pression or  seasonal  slackness  in  employment  the  class  of 
workmen  in  bad  standing  frequently  increased  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  weaken  or  menace  the  existence  of  many  local 
unions.  At  a  very  early  date  in  this  period  the  desirability 
of  obviating  these  difficulties,  and  the  importance  of  main- 
taining as  large  a  membership  as  possible,  led  to  the  granting 
of  an  "  amnesty  "  to  past  offenders  against  the  union.  Un- 
der an  "  amnesty  "  workmen  may  be  admitted  into  any  local 
union  without  regard  to  their  past  record.  On  certain  oc- 
casions the  national  unions  extended  "  general  amnesties," 
and  directed  the  local  unions  to  admit  on  favorable  terms 
former  members  and  non-unionists.^  Thus  in  1867  the 
Cigar  Makers'  International  Union  recommended  to  the 
local  unions  the  propriety  of  pardoning  former  offenders.^ 
Likewise,  in  the  same  year,  and  again  in  1876,  in  a  campaign 
to  increase  membership,  the  Iron  Molders  resorted  to  a  gen- 

^  See  below,  p.  157. 
^  See  below,  p.  159. 
'  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  137. 


469]  The   Control   of  Membership  15 

eral  pardon  of  all  expelled  and  suspended  members  who 
might  apply  within  a  stated  time.^ 

Closely  connected  with  the  granting  of  amnesties  for  the 
purpose  of  recruiting  membership  came  the  assumption  by 
certain  national  unions  of  the  administrative  function  of 
forming  local  unions.  Thus  in  1863  the  president  of  the 
Iron  Holders'  Union  traversed  the  country  for  the  purpose 
of  "  organizing  and  building  up  the  organization."^  Again  in 
1878  the  national  president  was  empowered  by  the  consti- 
tution to  "  make  terms  with  "  and  admit  offending  workmen 
in  order  to  organize  and  strengthen  local  unions.^  At  the 
session  of  the  Bricklayers'  National  Union  in  1871  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  "  organizer  "  was  recommended  for  work 
in  Massachusetts.*  In  1878  the  Iron  and  Steel  Workers 
imposed  the  duties  of  "  organizer  "  upon  the  president,  who 
was  directed  in  that  capacity  to  "  use  all  his  efforts  to  bring 
within  this  association  all  iron  and  steel  workers  in  the 
United  States."^  In  1874  the  Cigar  Makers  provided  for 
the  permanent  appointment  of  an  organizing  ofificer  of  the 
national  union. ^  From  this  time  on  the  work  of  national 
organization  was  regularly  prosecuted. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  above,  the  early  local  trade  unions 
had  exclusive  control  of  the  organization  and  admission  of 
workmen.  The  membership  of  these  early  societies  for  the 
most  part  included  journeymen  mechanics  who  had  learned 
a  trade  through  apprenticeship.  Moreover,  even  after  en- 
tering into  a  national  organization  each  local  union  con- 
trolled the  regular  admission  of  persons  at  work  within  its 
own  jurisdiction,  and  usually  admitted  only  journeymen 
mechanics  of  the  trade.  In  determining  the  class  of  work- 
men eligible  for  membership,  and  in  directing  what  per- 
sons within  the  class  might  be  admitted,  the  national  unions 

^  Proceedings,  1867,  pp.  21,  51 ;  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  August  10, 
1876,  p.  3. 

^ "  Sketches  of  the  Early  History  of  the  Iron  Holders'  Union," 
in  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  Hay  31,  1874,  p.  354. 

'  Constitution,  1878,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i. 

*  Proceedings,  1871,  p.  11. 

*  Proceedings,  1878.  pp.  144-145. 
'  Proceedings,  1879,  p.  3. 


1 6  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions         [470 

for  a  considerable  period  were  merely  loose  combinations 
for  formulating  and  enforcing  the  practically  unanimous 
judgment  of  the  local  unions.  Thus  the  Printers,^  the  Cigar 
Makers,-  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons,^  the  Holders,*  the 
Iron  and  Steel  Workers,^  and  the  Knights  of  St.  Crispin^ 
set  forth  in  national  regulations  and  decisions  that  only  the 
journeymen  mechanics  or  "practical  workmen"  of  the  re- 
spective trades  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  union  for 
the  purpose  of  organization  and  admission  to  membership. 
New  classes  of  workers  were  being  introduced  into  many 
of  the  trades  through  gradual  changes  in  the  organization 
of  industry  consequent  upon  the  increasing  use  of  machinery 
and  upon  the  availability  of  a  supply  of  women  workers, 
immigrants,  and  negroes.  These  workers  were  usually  en- 
gaged at  tasks  which  did  not  necessitate  the  serving  of  an 
apprenticeship  to  acquire  proficiency,  and  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  not  bring  them  within  the  class  of  "  practical 
workmen,"  who  alone  were  eligible  for  union  membership. 
Diversity  of  opinion  among  unions  situated  in  different  local- 
ities as  to  what  new  grades  of  workers  might  be  admitted 
to  membership  occasioned  friction  and  involved  the  inter- 
ference of  the  national  unions.  At  first,  only  recommenda- 
tions were  made  that  certain  additional  classes  should  be 
admitted.  Later,  the  national  authorities  determined  and 
from  time  to  time  extended  the  classes  of  persons  at  work 
within  a  trade  who  were  entitled  to  become  members  of 
the  local  trade  unions.  This  development  of  control  is 
illustrated  in  certain  trades  by  the  adoption  of  provisions  ex- 
tending the  range  of  eligibility  to  include  specialized  work- 
men, women,  and  negroes. 

'Barnett,  pp.  303,  323. 

'  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  156;  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  March, 
1878.  p.  I. 

*MS.  Proceedings,  1867,  pp.  52-53;  Proceedings,  1868,  p.  24;  Pro- 
ceedings, 1869,  p.  19. 

*The  International  Journal,  February,  1873,  p.  10;  May,  1874, 
p.  354- 

Proceedings,  Grand  Forge  of  United  Sons  of  Vulcan,  1875,  p.  18. 

*  Lescohier,  "  The  Knights  of  St.  Crispin,"  in  Bulletin  of  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin,  Economics  and  Political  Science  Series,  July, 
1910,  p.  25  et  seq. 


47 1  ]  ^^^   Control  of  Membership  17 

In  the  late  sixties  the  introduction  of  machine  molds  in 
the  manufacture  of  cigars  led  to  a  subdivision  of  the  trade 
by  differentiating  "  filler-breaking."  This  work  could  be 
quickly  learned  and  did  not  require  a  term  of  service  to 
acquire  competency.  The  question  arose  in  different  locgj 
unions  as  to  whether  "  filler-breakers  "  should  be  admitted 
to  membership.  The  national  union  held  that  their  admis- 
sion was  advisable,  although  certain  local  unions  seceded  in 
opposition  to  this  policy.  After  1875  the  union  enforced  the 
rule  that  an  applicant  should  not  be  rejected  on  account  of 
the  system  of  work  at  which  he  was  engaged.^ 

Similarly,  in  1877  the  president  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Workers'  Amalgamated  Association  reported  that  "  nobblers, 
roll  turners,  boiler  plate  and  iron  shearers,  and  furnace 
builders"  had  been  unable  to  gain  admission  into  certain 
subordinate  unions  because  they  were  ineligible  according 
to  the  national  constitution.  A  change  was  recommended, 
and  these  special  classes  of  workmen,  with  the  exception 
of  furnace  builders,  were  accordingly  declared  eligible.^ 
Thereafter  the  association  gradually  extended  its  jurisdic- 
tion to  embrace  "  all  men  working  in  and  around  rolling 
mills,  steel  works,  nail,  tack,  and  spike  factories,  pipe  mills 
and  all  works  run  in  connection  with  the  same."  Laborers 
might  be  admitted  at  the  discretion  of  the  subordinate  lodge.^ 

With  the  greater  specialization  of  industrial  processes 
came  increasing  employment  of  women.  In  printing  and 
in  cigar  making,  women  workers  first  encountered  active 
trade  organizations.  The  subdivision  of  labor  within  the 
trade  of  cigar  making  had  made  it  particularly  profitable  to 
employ  females.  The  Cigar  Makers'  International  Union, 
organized  in  1864,  debarred  women  from  membership  by  a 
specific  provision  of  its  constitution,  and  thus  supported  the 
opposition  of  the  local  unions  to  their  employment.^    Owing 

*  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  March,  1878,  p.  i;  June,  1878, 
p.  I ;  August,  1879,  p.  I ;  November,  1879,  p.  i. 

^  Proceedings,  1877,  pp.  50,  74-77. 

'Proceedings,  1887,  p.  1953;  Proceedings,  1888,  p.  2352;  Proceed- 
ings, 1889,  pp.  2686,  2687,  2791. 

*  MS.  Proceedings,  1865,  p.  60. 

2 


1 8  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [472 

to  the  increasing  employment  of  women,  however,  the  union 
in  1875  removed  the  sex  disqualification  despite  strong  op- 
position from  certain  local  unions.^  Since  that  time  the 
position  has  been  maintained  that  female  applicants  are 
eligible  for  membership  on  the  same  terms  as  men.^ 

The  local  typographical  unions  at  an  early  date  opposed 
the  entrance  of  women  into  the  trade,  and  even  after  the 
formation  of  the  national  union  continued  to  deny  them 
membership.^  In  the  sixties  the  national  union  directed 
renewed  attention  to  the  question  of  female  printers,  and 
in  1869  a  separate  women's  union  was  affiliated.*  In  1871 
the  national  union  again  urged  the  local  unions  to  organize 
and  admit  women  printers.^  Opposition  to  women  was 
being  overcome,  and  in  some  localities  they  were  admitted. 
But  the  local  union  in  each  case  might  still  exercise  its  own 
discretion  in  considering  women  applicants,  until  in  1884  the 
national  union  in  convention  sustained  a  decision  of  the 
president  that  a  subordinate  union  could  not  refuse  admis- 
sion on  account  of  sex." 

The  supply  of  free  negro  labor  in  most  of  the  organized 
trades  after  the  war  was  a  negligible  quantity  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  such  labor  was  for  the  most  part  unskilled. 
But  owing  to  social  antipathy  the  problem  of  organizing 
negroes  was  especially  difficult  in  the  trades  which  they 
entered.  In  the  Cigar  Makers  in  1865  this  opposition  forced 
into  the  national  constitution  a  rule  expressly  excluding 
negroes.^  In  1879  the  national  union  prohibited  the  local 
unions  from  rejecting  an  applicant  on  account  of  color.^ 
Similarly  the  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  at  first  refused  to 
permit  the  admission  of  negroes,  but  in  1881  provided  for 
their  inclusion  within  the  class  of  eligible  persons,  "past 

*  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  November,  1877,  p.  2;  June, 
1878,  p.  I. 

==  Ibid.,  October,  1886,  p.  i. 
^  Barnett,  pp.  311,  312. 

*  Proceedings,  i86g,  pp.  23,  39,  41. 
"  Proceedings,  1871,  pp.  S3,  61. 

'  Proceedings,  1884,  PP-  20,  104, 
^  MS.  Proceedings,  1865,  p.  60. 

*  Proceedings,  1879,  p.  2. 


473]  ^^^   Control   of  Membership  19 

experience  having  taught  the  craft  that  they  were  indis- 
pensable."^ 

The  negro  question  also  presented  itself  to  the  Brick- 
layers and  Masons.  Since  the  local  unions  regulated  ad- 
mission the  national  union  ordinarily  became  involved  in 
the  problem  only  when  the  travelling  card  of  a  negro  mem- 
ber had  been  rejected  by  a  local  union  or  when  an  application 
was  made  to  charter  a  separate  colored  local  union.  For 
a  long  period  the  union  openly  permitted  the  violation  of 
the  card  system  in  respect  to  negro  members.^  Further- 
more, a  national  rule  prevented  the  issuance  of  a  charter  to 
a  new  union  in  any  locality  without  the  consent  of  the 
existing  local  union,  if  there  was  one.  In  the  case  of  pro- 
posed negro  unions  this  consent  was  often  withheld,  and 
the  national  union  was  thus  unable  to  affiliate  colored 
unions.  In  1870  a  proposal  granting  power  to  issue  separate 
charters  failed  of  adoption.^  Again  in  1877  a  plan  for 
organizing  negroes  was  rejected.*  Finally  in  1881  the  na- 
tional union  definitely  determined  that  the  travelling  card 
of  a  colored  bricklayer  in  good  standing  should  be  recog- 
nized.^ Shortly  thereafter  the  national  executive  board 
was  also  empowered  to  charter  separate  colored  unions.® 
Since  that  time  the  national  union  has  insisted  upon  the  ad- 
mission of  negroes  and  has  discountenanced  any  discrimina- 
tion against  them. 

The  control  of  membership  as  thus  undertaken  by  the 
national  unions  prior  to  1880  consisted  of  three  parts: 
the  control  of  the  readmission  of  expelled  members  and  of 
the  admission  of  members  of  one  local  union  into  another; 
the  organization  and  reorganization  of  local  unions  by  the 
national  union,  and  the  extension  by  certain  national  unions 
of   their   membership    jurisdiction   over   new    classes    and 

^  Proceedings.  1876,  p.  82 ;  Proceedings,  1881,  p.  708. 
'  Proceedings,  1881,  p.  7. 

*  I'roceedings,  1870,  p.  37. 

*  Proceedings,  1876,  pp.  9,  25 ;  Proceedings,  1877,  PP-  6,  17,  18. 
'Proceedings,  1881,  p.  26. 

'Proceedings,  1883,  pp.  14,  21,  22,  62,  63;  Proceedings.  1884,  pp. 
16,  17,  21,  22,  66,  67. 


20  Adtnission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [474 

grades  of  workmen.  Control  of  the  admission  of  ordi- 
nary applicants,  and  thus  of  the  chief  avenue  of  union  in- 
crease, remained  in  the  possession  of  the  local  union. 

Since  the  era  of  active  labor  organization  in  the  eighties, 
a  tendency  to  augment  the  participation  of  the  national 
unions  in  the  admission  of  members  is  discernible.  Assum- 
ing that  this  tendency  results  from  the  deliberate  policy  of 
union  leaders  to  increase  membership,  its  development  may 
be  traced  under  three  heads:  (i)  the  admission  of  v^ork- 
men  employed  in  places  where  unions  do  not  exist  or  cannot 
be  formed;  (2)  the  supervision  of  the  local  admission  of 
candidates;  (3)  the  interpretation  by  the  national  unions 
of   the   requirements    for   admission. 

(i)  In  certain  national  unions  plans  were  early  proposed 
for  attaching  individual  workmen,  in  unorganized  towns, 
either  as  members  of  a  neighboring  local  union  or  directly 
as  members  of  the  national  union.  For  example,  in  1864 
the  Printers  devised  a  scheme  for  affiliating  craftsmen  in 
isolated  localities  as  "  conditional  members  "  of  the  nearest 
local  union,^  but  the  plan  was  soon  abandoned.  For  a 
short  time  in  1867  the  Cigar  Makers  provided  for  a  similar 
affiliation  of  members.-  In  more  recent  times  certain 
methods  of  unionizing  detached  workmen  have  been  gen- 
erally adopted.  The  endeavor  has  been  to  extend  the  out- 
posts of  unionism,  as  well  as  to  retain  those  members  in 
good  standing  of  disbanded  local  unions,  and  to  acquire 
control  of  workmen  immediately  beyond  the  jurisdiction 
of  a  local  union  who  would  be  of  service  in  counteracting 
the  efforts  of  employers  to  secure  non-unionists.  Accord- 
ingly, workmen  are  admitted  either  as  "jurisdiction  mem- 
bers "  attached  to  a  local  union,  or  as  "  members  at  large  " 
connected  only  with  the  national  union.  After  1882  the  In- 
ternational Typographical  Union  maintained  the  practice  of 
attaching  printers  in  unorganized  towns  to  the  nearest  local 
unions.^     In  1883  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons  empowered 

*  Proceedings,  1864,  pp.  81-84;  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  9. 

*  MS.  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  157. 
'Barnett,  p.  265. 


475]  ^^^^    Control   of  Membership  21 

the  national  officers  to  organize  workmen  in  localities  where 
the  number  was  insufficient  to  form  a  union. ^  The  United 
Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  sought  to  retain  the  members  of 
lapsed  or  suspended  unions  by  permitting  them  to  become 
"jurisdiction  members"  of  a  nearby  local  union.^  The 
Journeymen  Bakers,^  the  Barbers,*  the  Holders,^  and  the 
Cigar  Makers®  have  also  authorized  the  acceptance  of  mem- 
bers outside  the  jurisdiction  of  a  local  union. 

Provision  for  admitting  members  at  large  represents  the 
second  method  of  increasing  membership.  In  1890  the  Iron 
Molders  extended  to  workmen  in  towns  where  there  was 
no  local  union  the  right  to  join  the  national  union  without 
local  connection.^  In  1893  the  Printers,  with  a  view  to  in- 
creasing the  number  of  "provisional"  or  jurisdiction  mem- 
bers, changed  the  method  of  admission  so  that  workmen  in 
unorganized  towns  should  no  longer  be  required  to  join  a 
local  union  and  to  pay  local  dues,  but  might  be  admitted 
and  might  become  directly  responsible  to  the  national  union.® 
The  advantages  to  workmen  of  escaping  payment  of  local 
dues  and  of  securing  a  right  to  national  friendly  benefits 
have  made  direct  admission  preferable  to  local  affiliation. 
Since  1895  the  following  unions  have  made  provision  for 
admitting  members-at-large :  ]\Ieat  Cutters  and  Butcher 
Workmen  (1897),  Plumbers  (1897),  Boot  and  Shoe  Work- 
ers (1899),  Tobacco  Workers  (1900),  Metal  Polishers  and 
Buffers  (1901),  Railway  Clerks  (1903),  Retail  Clerks 
(1903),  Commercial  Telegraphers  (1904),  Photo-Engravers 
(1904),  Musicians  (1904),  Shipwrights  (1905),  Bridge  and 
Structural   Iron   Workers    (1906),   Hod   Carriers    (1907), 

^  Proceedings,  1883,  pp.  43,  55,  59. 
^Constitution,  1888,  Art.  XXX,  Sec.  i. 
'Constitution,  1886,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  6. 

*  Constitution,  1894,  Art.  X,  Sec.  14. 

''Constitution,    1876,    Standing    Resolution,    p.    40;    Constitution, 
1895,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  4- 

*  Constitution,   1881,  Art.  XXI,   Sec.   i ;   Constitution,   1896   (21st 
ed.),  Sec.  205. 

'  Proceedings,  1890,  p.  83. 

*  Proceedings,  1893,  pp.  11,  100. 


22  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [476 

National  Federation  of  Post  Office  Clerks  (1908).^  The 
method  of  admitting  detached  workmen  as  members-at-large 
represents  a  development  over  that  of  affiliating  them  with 
a  local  union,  in  that  it  makes  possible  the  direct  national 
control  of  admission  and  the  more  effective  increase  of 
membership. 

In  addition  to  its  primary  purpose  this  method  may  in- 
cidentally serve  other  ends.  For  example,  the  Boot  and 
Shoe  Workers  and  the  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paper- 
hangers  admit  persons  to  membership-at-large  as  a  means  of 
preventing  local  unions  from  unjustly  rejecting  applicants. 
The  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers  specify  that  any  applicant  who 
has  been  rejected  by  a  local  union  for  insufficient  cause  may 
by  appeal  be  accepted  as  a  member-at-large.^  In  one  in- 
stance the  Painters  retained  as  members-at-large  certain 
negroes  whose  travelling  cards  were  rejected  by  a  local 
union.  The  Railway  Clerks  and  Commercial  Telegraphers 
have  probably  the  largest  number  of  members  directly  as- 
sociated with  the  national  union  f  this  is  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  many  applicants  desire  to  conceal  from  employers 
the  fact  of  any  connection  with  the  union. 

(2)  Only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  membership  of  most 
unions  is  composed  of  the  two  special  classes  of  "jurisdic- 
tion "  and  "  general "  members.  In  recent  years  many  na- 
tional unions  have,  however,  witnessed  a  closer  national 
supervision  and  control  of  the  local  unions  in  the  admission 
of  members.  This  development  may  be  seen  not  only  in 
the  greater  national  control  of  the  mechanism  of  admission, 
but  also  in  the  increasing  exercise  by  the  national  union  of 
the  power  to  subject  the  acts  of  local  unions  to  judicial 
review. 

The  admission  of  an  eligible  candidate  into  an  independ- 

*  The  Musicians  designate  this  form  of  membership  as  "  condi- 
tional membership,"  the  Photo-Engravers,  "provisional  member- 
ship," and  the  Painters,  "  general  membership." 

^Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  46;  Constitution,   1909,  Sec.  40. 

'  Estimates  by  the  secretaries  placed  the  number  of  such  members 
in  1910  in  the  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Clerks  at  300,  and  in  the 
Commercial  Telegraphers  at  1250. 


477]  ^^^^   Control   of  Membership  23 

ent  local  union  in  early  times  was  a  simple  procedure,  since 
such  action  concerned  only  a  single  organization.  When 
the  same  union  united  with  a  large  number  of  others  into 
a  national  organization,  complications  arose  which  neces- 
sitated some  uniformity  in  admitting  applicants.  Accord- 
ingly certain  regulations,  intended  in  part  to  attain  this  uni- 
formity, have  been  adopted  by  the  national  unions:  (o)  in- 
vestigation of  the  record,  age,  physical  fitness,  and  trade 
competency  of  applicants;  (b)  payment  of  an  initiation  fee, 
and  (c)  a  vote  or  ballot  by  members  of  the  local  union. 

(a)  One  of  the  chief  purposes  in  the  formation  of  na- 
tional organizations  was  to  facilitate  control  over  the  admis- 
sion or  readmission  of  suspended,  expelled,  and  offending 
journeymen,  through  the  card  system.  Local  unions  fre- 
quently would  not  delay  long  enough  to  find  out  whether 
each  applicant  for  admission  had  been  expelled  or  rejected 
by  another  union.  Similarly,  convenient  communication 
frequently  could  not  be  had  with  the  other  unions  concern- 
ing new  applicants  coming  from  distant  places.  After  the 
national  unions  became  important,  the  national  mem- 
bership list  and  the  trade  journal  afforded  means  for  dis- 
closing the  names  of  former  members.  In  order  to  aid 
further  in  the  enforcement  of  the  card  system,  many  unions 
have  required  that  the  names  of  all  applicants  be  submitted 
to  the  national  unions  for  investigation  or  for  publication 
in  the  journal.^  Membership  files  containing  the  names 
and  membership  lists  of  each  local  union  enable  the  national 
officers  to  keep  track  of  former  members,  "  scabs,"  and  anti- 
unionists.  Some  unions,  such  as  the  Bricklayers  and 
Masons^  and  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,^  record  also  the 

^  See,  for  example,  Proceedings.  Cigar  Makers,  1880,  pp.  7,  9 ; 
Constitution,  Window  Glass  Workers,  Local  Assembly  300,  1895, 
Art.  I,  Sec.  37;  Constitution,  Bakers'  and  Confectionery  Workers' 
International  Union,  1897,  Art.  XIX;  General  Laws,  Typographical 
Union,  1902,  Sec.  i.  A  typical  provision  is  that  of  the  Elevator 
Constructors'  International  Union :  "  No  local  union  shall  admit 
an  applicant  for  membership  without  first  submitting  his  application 
to  the  international  secretary  for  investigation"  (Constitution, 
1907,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  6). 

'Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  6. 

^  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  37- 


24  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [47 8 

names  of  applicants  rejected  in  the  local  unions.  The 
Machine  Printers'  Beneficial  Association/  the  Wood 
Carvers,^  the  Marble  Workers,^  and  the  Steel  Plate  Trans- 
ferrers* require  that  names  of  applicants  in  each  local  union 
be  submitted  for  approval  to  the  other  local  unions,  branches, 
or  districts.  Thus  the  system  of  national  investigation  of 
applicants,  designed  primarily  to  enforce  the  national  ex- 
clusion of  ofifending  workmen,  increases  the  authority  of 
the  national  union  by  requiring  each  local  union  to  exclude 
or  to  admit  members  with  reference  to  their  previous  stand- 
ing in  other  unions  within  the  trade. 

The  development  of  national  beneficial  features  has  re- 
sulted in  the  establishment  of  the  requirement  in  certain 
unions  that  only  physically  qualified  workmen  may  be  ad- 
mitted. An  age  limit  is  fixed  and  a  physical  examination 
is  prescribed  for  all  candidates.  This  necessitates,  as  a 
part  of  the  formalities  of  admission,  an  investigation  by  the 
local  union.  Applicants  who  are  found  to  be  disqualified 
may  in  some  unions — such  as  the  Cigar  Makers'  Interna- 
tional Union,^  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters,®  the 
Spinners,'^  the  Pattern  Makers'  League,^  the  Switchmen," 
and  the  railroad  brotherhoods" — be  admitted  as  non-bene- 
ficial members. 

The  most  important  preliminary  to  admission  is  an  in- 
vestigation by  the  local  union  of  the  fitness  of  the  candi- 
date as  a  workman.  Ordinarily  the  necessary  qualifications 
include  a  term  of  training  in  the  trade  and  competency  to 
perform  the  work.  In  many  national  unions  these  require- 
ments are  explicitly   defined  and  their  observance  is  en- 

^  Constitution,  1903,  Art.  V,  Sec.  6. 
"Constitution,  1903,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  6. 
^Proceedings,  1907,  p.  28;  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  31. 

*  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  3. 
"Constitution,  Cigar  Makers,  1896  (21st  ed.).  Sec.  67. 

*  Rules,  1887,  Rule  6,  Sec.  2 ;  Rules,  1905,  Rule  56,  Sec.  I. 
^  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XV. 

*  Constitution,  1900,  Laws  98,  99. 

'  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1901,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  2. 
*"  Kennedy,  "  Beneficiary  Features  of  American  Trade  Unions,"  in 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies,  Series  XXVI,  Nos.  11-12,  p.  45. 


479j  ^^^^    Control   of  Membership  25 

forced  upon  the  local  unions.  The  meaning  and  enforce- 
ment of  these  qualifications  of  membership  will  be  treated 
in  detail  in  subsequent  chapters  entitled  respectively  "  Ad- 
mission by  Apprenticeship "  and  '"  Admission  by  Compe- 
tency." 

(b)  An  incidental  requisite  for  admission  into  any  union 
is  the  payment  of  an  initiation  fee.  Usually  the  amount  is 
small,  and  represents  only  a  nominal  charge  for  the  priv- 
ileges of  membership.  But  the  power  to  fix  a  charge  may 
be  abused  and  become  prohibitory  to  prospective  members. 
Strong  local  unions  have  at  times  sought  to  exclude  work- 
men by  charging  a  high  admission  fee  in  order  to  monopolize 
employment  for  their  members.^  A  few  national  unions 
have  also  used  high  fees  apparently  for  exclusive  purposes. 
Thus  the  national  board  of  directors  of  the  United  Hatters 
have  fixed  the  fees  from  individual  applicants  at  sums  vary- 
ing from  $25  to  $100.2  jjj  j^g  ^Yie  Print  Cutters  agreed 
to  admit  two  men  into  the  association  upon  payment  by 
each  of  an  initiation  fee  of  $200.^  The  determination  of  the 
initiation  fees  may  have,  therefore,  an  important  influence 
on  admission  policy.  The  majority  of  national  unions  have 
not  required  the  payment  of  high  fees,  but  many  of  them 
have  regulated  the  amount  of  such  fees  which  may  be 
charged  by  the  local  unions. 

The  determination  of  fees  varies  in  different  unions; 
some,  as  for  example  the  Printers,  leave  the  matter  to  local 
control.*  A  second  large  class,  represented  by  the  Carpen- 
ters'  United  Brotherhood/  the   Painters,   Decorators  and 

^  Thus  Local  Union  No.  166  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1908  requested 
the  International  Union  of  United  Brewery  Workmen  to  grant  "  the 
privilege  of  raising  the  initiation  fee,  as  the  officers  are  continually 
annoyed  by  prospective  candidates"  (Proceedings,  1908,  p.  153). 
In  1900  the  Newark  Association  of  the  United  Hatters  of  North 
America  placed  a  fine  of  $250  on  a  man  "  to  keep  him  out  of  the 
Association"  (Proceedings,  1900.  p.  102).  See  also  The  Electrical 
Worker,  May,  1903,  pp.  70-71 ;  Pattern  Makers'  Journal,  December, 
1907,  p.    I7-. 

^  Proceedings  of  Board  of  Directors'  Meeting,  Semi-Annual  Re- 
port of  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  June  30,  1907,  p.  23. 

*  Proceedings,  1908,  p.  6. 

*  Barnett,  p.  325. 

"Constitution,  1881,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  6;  Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  55. 


26  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions         [480 

Paperhangers/  the  Pattern  Makers,^  the  Elevator  Con- 
structors,^ and  the  Plumbers,*  fix  only  a  minimum,  thus  in- 
terfering least  with  local  autonomy.  In  either  of  these 
classes  the  local  unions  may  raise  the  charge  at  their  discre- 
tion. Thus,  while  the  minimum  for  initiation  into  the 
United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  is  $5,  the  fee  for  new 
members  in  the  Baltimore  district  is  $25.  The  Elevator 
Constructors  require  a  minimum  of  $25,  and  the  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis  local  unions  have  imposed  fees  of  $50.^  The 
Musicians  have  a  $5  minimum,  but  local  unions  on  occasion 
increase  the  charge  to  $75  and  $100.  In  a  few  instances 
local  unions  of  the  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers 
impose  charges  of  $200  and  $250.  In  case  no  restriction 
is  placed  on  the  amount  of  the  initiation  fee  and  no  appeal 
may  be  taken  to  the  national  union,*^  a  local  union  may  thus 
hedge  itself  in  against  outsiders. 

Another  group  of  unions,  including  the  Cigar  Makers,'^ 
the  Iron  Molders,^  the  Granite  Cutters,^  the  Stone  Cutters,^" 
and  the  Bookbinders,^^  have  prescribed  a  uniform  fee  for  all 
localities.  This  method  secures  uniformity,  and  restrains 
the  use  of  increased  fees  by  a  local  union,  unless  the  con- 
sent of  the  national  authority  is  procured.^-     Some  unions, 

^  Constitution,  1901,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Rule  31,  CI.  i. 
^Constitution,  igo2.  Art.  VII,  Sec.  3. 

*  Constitution,   1899,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1906,  Sec.  71. 
'  In   1903  transfer  members  going  to  St.  Louis  with  cards  were 

required  to  pay  $65.  A  member  of  that  union  pronounced  it  "  rob- 
bery to  take  a  new  applicant  in  for  $50  and  soak  a  card  man  $65." 
The  fee  was  probably  increased  to  ward  off  an  influx  of  workers  to 
St.  Louis  on  account  of  the  Exposition  (The  Electrical  Worker, 
May,  1905,  pp.  70-71). 

'  See  below,  p.  31. 

^Constitution,  1879,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  18Q5,  Sec.  64.  In  1893  a  proposed  amendment  to 
the  constitution  of  the  Iron  Holders'  International  Union  providing 
for  a  minimum  initiation  fee  instead  of  a  uniform  fee  and  thus  per- 
mitting the  local  unions  to  raise  the  fee  at  will  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  3943  to  927  (Iron  Holders'  Journal,  May,  1893,  p.  2;  Jan- 
uary, 1894,  p.  6). 

'  Constitution,  1905,  Sec.  64. 

"  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  V,  Sec.  i. 

"  Constitution,  1894,  Sec.  6. 

'^The  United  Brewery  Workmen,  for  example,  provide  that  no 
more  than  $10  may  be  charged  a  candidate,  without  first  obtaining 
the  consent  of  the  executive  board. 


481]  The   Control   of  Membership  27 

such  as  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons/  the  Bakery  and  Con- 
fectionery Workers,-  the  United  Garment  Workers,^  and 
the  Lake  Seamen,*  fix  a  maximum  as  well  as  a  minimum, 
and  thus  secure  approximate  uniformity  in  the  fees  charged 
by  the  local  unions. 

High  special  fees  are  defended  on  several  grounds.  In 
the  first  place,  they  often  partake  of  the  nature  of  fines  im- 
posed on  recalcitrant,  expelled,  and  non-union  workmen. 
Although  national  regulations  forbid  fees  above  a  stated 
sum,  an  additional  amount  in  the  nature  of  fines  may  be 
charged  by  the  local  unions,  and  must  be  paid  for  admission. 
The  eifect  of  this  is  merely  to  increase  the  fee.  IMany 
unions  provide  by  this  means  for  increased  fees  from  "  anti- 
unionists  "  or  "  oppositionists."®  Thus  the  Bricklayers  and 
Masons  permit  the  local  unions  to  impose  only  $10  as  an 
initiation  fee,  but  provide  for  the  imposition  of  penalties 
ranging  from  $25  to  Siooo  upon  either  former  members  or 
non-unionists  who  have  worked  against  the  union."  The 
Marble  Workers  impose  a  special  fee  of  $50  in  addition  to 
the  regular  fee  upon  non-members  who  knowingly  work 
on  unfair  jobs.'^  The  Pattern  Makers  provide  that  the 
executive  committee  of  the  local  union  may  recommend 
such  "  cost  of  admission  as  it  deems  justified  by  the  facts 
when  the  record  of  a  candidate  shows  persistent  defiance  of 
and  antagonism  to  the  League."® 

In  the  second  place,  when  a  union  through  continued 

*  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XVIII,  Sec.  8. 
^  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  V,  Sec.  13. 

'  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  I. 

*  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  X.  Sec.  C. 

'  Thus  in  1902  fines  imposed  by  a  local  union  on  eleven  "  scabs," 
ranging  in  amount  from  $250  to  $1000,  were  reported  by  the  execu- 
tive board  of  the  United  Association  of  Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam 
Fitters  (Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  March. 
1902,  p.  5;  October.  1904,  p.  104;  December,  1907,  p.  i).  See  also  The 
Union  Boot  and  Shoe  Worker,  May,  1903.  p.  29;  Granite  Cutters' 
Journal,  December,  1S87,  p.  6;  Constitution,  Musicians,  1906,  Stand- 
ing Resolution  No.  16;  Constitution,  Lithographers,  1907,  Art 
VIII,  Sec.  5- 

"Constitution,  1908,  pp.  51,  52,  ,57. 

'Proceedings,  1910,  pp.  190,  210,  211. 

*  Constitution,  1900,  Rule  94. 


28  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [482 

effort  has  secured  improved  conditions  in  a  trade  and  ac- 
cumulated superior  advantages,  an  extra  charge  on  new 
members  is  deemed  a  just  payment  for  advantages  they 
have  not  assisted  in  procuring.^  Unusually  high  fees  de- 
manded from  immigrants  are  thus  justified,  especially  in 
the  port  cities,  in  order  to  protect  the  trades  against  an 
oversupply  of  workmen  through  immigration.^ 

(c)  The  final  part  of  the  mechanism  of  admission  which 
has  been  subjected  to  national  regulation  is  the  balloting  for 
members.  Originally  this  detail  was  locally  controlled. 
Certain  unions,  as  for  example  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons^ 
and  the  Marine  Engineers,*  even  now  leave  the  matter  to 
local  determination.  Following  the  practice  of  fraternal 
societies,  the  local  unions  often  provided  that  a  very  small 
number  of  votes  was  sufficient  to  reject  an  applicant. 
Under  this  system  a  candidate  might  be  rejected  without 
just  cause,  through  personal  feeling,  prejudice,  or  a  desire 
to  monopolize  work.  In  order  to  secure  uniformity  among 
the  local  unions  and  to  check  or  prevent  the  easy  rejection 
of  applicants,  it  has  become  the  prevailing  practice  to  specify 
the  number  of  votes  which  shall  be  necessary  to  admit  or  to 
reject. 

Some  unions  maintain  the  blackball  method  of  balloting. 
This  is  true  of  the  railway  brotherhoods^  and  certain 
unions  including  the  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,^ 
the  Steam  Engineers,'^  and  the  Machine  Printers  and  Color 

*The  Electrical  Worker,  May,  1903,  p.  17. 

^  See  Pattern  Makers'  Journal,  December,  1901,  p.  17;  Granite 
Cutters'  Journal,  July,  1903,  pp.  8,  11.     See  below,  p.  103. 

^Report  of  President,  1904,  pp.  287,  295.  It  is  interesting,  how- 
ever, to  note  that  President  IBowen  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons' 
International  Union  at  this  time  characterized  blackballing  as  "  an 
intolerant  system,  so  long  as  an  applicant  can  be  vouched  for  as  a 
competent  mechanic  and  there  is  nothing  against  him  on  the  delin- 
quent list  of  the  organizations.  When  it  comes  to  a  labor  organiza- 
tion blackballing  a  man  for  personal  spite  or  for  social  reasons, 
it  is  decidedly  a  bad  thing." 

*  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  7. 

'  See  Constitution,  Railway  Clerks,  1906,  Art.  II,  Sec.  5 ;  Con- 
stitution and  Statutes,  Locomotive  Engineers,  1910,  Sec.  35 ;  Con- 
stitution, Locomotive  Firemen,  1909,  Sec.  4. 

"Constitution,  1899,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  5. 

^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  5. 


483]  The   Control  of  Membership  29 

Mixers.^  In  1888  the  Iron  Holders  made  the  local  ballot- 
ing systems  uniform  by  prescribing  that  five  blackballs 
should  reject.^  In  order  to  decrease  the  number  of  rejec- 
tions on  improper  grounds,  it  was  proposed  further  that 
the  number  of  votes  necessary  to  reject  should  be  raised. 
Since  1890  the  Molders  have  required  an  adverse  vote  of 
one  third  of  the  ballots  for  rejection.^  For  the  same  pur- 
pose the  Printers  in  1893  adopted  a  rule  that  if  three  fourths 
of  the  members  present  at  any  meeting  of  a  subordinate 
union  voted  for  the  admission  of  the  applicant,  he  should 
be  admitted.*  The  Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers,^  the  Tin 
Plate  Workers,^  the  Blacksmiths,'^  the  Retail  Clerks,®  and  the 
Carpenters'  United  Brotherhood''  specify  a  two-thirds  vote 
as  necessary  for  admission.  Finally,  a  large  group  of 
unions  require  a  majority  vote  to  admit.  These  include  the 
Carpenters'  Amalgamated  Society,  the  Granite  Cutters,  the 
Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,  the  Barbers,  the  Electrical  Work- 
ers, the  Tobacco  Workers,  the  Metal  Polishers,  the  Steel 
Plate  Transferrers,  and  the  Upholsterers. 

(3)  In  addition  to  national  control  of  the  machinery  of 
admission,  another  direction  in  which  increasing  national 
authority  has  been  exercised  is  in  passing  upon  the  quali- 
fications of  applicants.  It  has  been  noted  above  that  at  a 
very  early  date  any  member  of  a  national  union  had  the 
right  to  appeal  against  an  unjust  expulsion  or  other  in- 
fringement of  his  rights  by  a  local  union.  At  a  later  time 
it  became  the  practice  for  appeals  to  be  made  by  workmen 
who  were  denied  admission.  Originally,  such  an  appeal 
secured  for  the  appellant  a  reconsideration  of  his  case  be- 

^  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  II,  Sec.  3. 
=■  Constitution,  1888,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  4. 
^  Constitution,  1890,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  4. 

*  Proceedings,  1893,  pp.  12,  159. 

'  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XXVIII,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution  and  General  Laws,  1901,  Art.  XXIV,  Sec.  i. 

^  Local  Union   Constitution,   1901,  Art.  IV,   Sec.  5;   Local  Union 
Constitution,  1910,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  4. 
^  Constitution,  1901,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  5. 

*  Constitution,  1911,  Sec.  67. 


30  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [484 

fore  the  local  iinion.^  By  degrees,  a  right  to  appeal  against 
rejection  for  any  cause  came  to  be  recognized  and  the  power 
exercised  to  protect  it.  Thus  in  1884  the  Cigar  Makers'  In- 
ternational Union  for  the  first  time  sustained  appeals  from 
rejected  applicants  and  reversed  the  action  of  local  unions.^ 
Again,  in  1886,  the  union  reversed  the  action  of  a  local  union 
in  Quincy,  Illinois,  in  refusing  a  woman  "  the  privilege 
of  joining  the  union."^  In  1890  the  Bricklayers  and 
Masons'  International  Union  sustained  an  appeal  from  a 
workman  rejected  for  alleged  incompetency.* 

More  recently  the  practice  of  considering  appeals  of  this 
kind  has  prevailed  in  a  large  number  of  unions.^  A  few, 
including  the  Printers,®  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,'  the 
Hatters,^  the  Shingle  Weavers,^  and  the  Lithographers,^" 
have  incorporated  provisions  in  their  constitutions  extend- 
ing to  rejected  applicants  the  right  to  appeal.  The  Boot 
and  Shoe  Workers  accept  as  members-at-large  applicants 
who  are  rejected  by  a  local  union  for  insufficient  cause. 
The  Molders,  the  Blacksmiths,  the  Maintenance-of-Way 
Employes,  the  Steam  Shovel  and  Dredgemen,  the  Box 
Makers  and  Sawyers,  and  the  Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers 
have  not  specifically  recognized  this  right,  but  have  con- 
sidered a  few  cases  of  appeals  by  non-members.     National 

^  See  Proceedings  National  Forge,  United  Sons  of  Vulcan,  1871, 
pp.  19,  20;  Monthly  Circular  [Stone  Cutters],  October,  1889,  p.  i; 
Proceedings,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1888,  pp.  60,  125. 

^  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  September,  1884,  p.  i ;  November, 
1884,  p.  I. 

'Ibid.,  October,  1886,  p.  i. 

*  Proceedings,  1890,  p.  67.  Appeals  against  the  imposition  of 
special  initiation  fees  have  also  been  frequently  made  (Report  of 
President,  1901,  pp.  165-166,  175,  176).  See  also  Proceedings,  1887, 
p.  35 ;  Report  of  President,  1902,  pp.  285-287. 

''Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  May,  1898,  p.  2;  Report  of  Presi- 
dent, Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1906,  p.  215;  Bakers'  Journal  and 
Deutsch  Amerikanische  Backer  Zeitung,  July  27,  1901,  p.  i ; 
Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  December,  1907, 
p.  2. 

'  Proceedings,  i8g8,  pp.  20,  105. 

""  Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  44. 

*  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  X,  Sec.  3. 
'Bv-Laws,  1904,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i. 

*"  Constitution,  1901,  p.  79. 


485]  The   Control  of  Membership  31 

officers  of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  the  Railroad  Freight 
Handlers,  the  Commercial  Telegraphers,  the  Coopers,  the 
Car  Workers,  and  the  Piano  and  Organ  Workers  have 
asserted  to  the  writer  that  appeals  of  rejected  workmen 
would  be  considered,  but  that  as  yet  no  cases  have  arisen. 
The  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters^  and  the  Painters, 
Decorators  and  Paperhangers-  have  considered  appeals  from 
rejected  applicants,  but  have  refused  to  interfere,  as  have  a 
few  other  unions,  on  the  ground  that  "  local  unions  have 
the  right  to  refuse  the  application  of  any  persons  they  con- 
sider not  qualified  for  membership."  Thus  a  general  tend- 
ency prevails  to  make  the  officers  of  the  national  unions 
the  judges  of  the  qualifications  of  candidates.  The  local 
union  retains  the  nominal  right  to  pass  upon  candidates  in 
all  unions,  but  every  applicant  can  usually  secure  a  rehear- 
ing of  his  claim  of  membership  before  a  national  officer. 
Since  the  qualifications  for  members  are  not  strictly  de- 
fined in  union  regulations,  the  national  union  is  free  to  in- 
terpret their  practical  meaning  and  to  pursue  the  policy 
which  it  may  deem  best. 

The  decisions  of  the  national  unions  have  usually  held 
that  a  workman  can  be  debarred  only  for  incompetency  or 
for  notorious  anti-union  conduct.  Enforcement  of  the  de- 
cision remains  as  a  rule  in  the  discretion  of  the  local  unions, 
but  failure  to  enforce  such  a  decision  ordinarily  subjects 
the  local  union  to  fine,  suspension,  or  a  revocation  of  char- 
ter. It  is  improbable  that  extreme  measures  against  a 
local  union  would  be  employed  in  the  case  of  an  appeal  by 
a  single  applicant.  Many  local  unions  could,  therefore, 
safely  disobey  a  national  decision.  The  national  unions 
might,  as  do  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,  admit  rejected 
applicants  to  membership-at-large.  It  is  inevitable,  how- 
ever, that  some  persons  may  be  excluded  from  member- 
ship who  are  entitled  to  admission.  Many  applicants  who 
are  rejected  and  who  might  gain  admission  by  an  appeal  to 

*  The  Carpenter,  February,  1897,  P-  8. 

*  Official  Journal,  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers,  August, 
1901,  p.  19;  January,  1902,  p.  52;  March,  1904,  pp.  161,  162. 


32  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [486 

the  national  officers  are  either  not  aware  of  the  right  to 
appeal  or  do  not  avail  themselves  of  it.  The  possibility  of 
review  by  the  national  union  certainly  tends,  however,  to 
exert  a  good  effect  on  the  local  unions  by  making  them 
more  considerate  of  the  claims  of  applicants  to  membership. 

Finally,  a  small  number  of  unions  in  recent  years  have 
exercised  full  control  over  admission  and  over  the  qualifi- 
cations of  applicants.  Thus,  since  1898  the  United  Hatters 
have  admitted  members  only  by  vote  of  the  national  board 
of  directors.  Workmen  apply  to  the  local  associations  and 
must  be  accepted  therein  by  a  two-thirds  vote  before  their 
application  will  be  passed  upon  by  the  board. ^  This  method 
enables  the  national  officers  to  exercise  their  own  discretion 
as  to  admitting  additional  workmen  into  the  trade.  It  has 
in  practice  been  so  used  as  to  adjust  the  number  accepted 
to  the  supposed  needs  of  the  trade  for  workmen.^  The 
Machine  Textile  Printers  accept  applicants  only  by  the 
approval  of  a  two-thirds  vote  in  each  of  the  four  districts 
forming  the  association.^  In  1908  the  Window  Glass 
Workers*  and  the  Marble  Workers^  adopted  the  rule  that 
the  national  executive  board  or  council  must  consent  to  the 
admission  of  any  applicant. 

A  few  national  unions  have  exclusive  control  in  admitting 
certain  classes  of  applicants.  For  example,  foreigners  are 
admitted  into  the  glass  trades  and  into  certain  other  unions 
only  by  the  action  of  national  officers.®  The  Flint  Glass 
Workers,'^   the   Print   Cutters,^   and   the   Lace   Operatives* 

^  Journal  of  the  United  Hatters,  November,  1898,  p.  i ;  December, 
1898,  p.  3;  May,  1901,  p.  5;  By-Laws,  1907,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  i. 

■Journal  of  the  United  Hatters,  October,  1899,  p.  4;  Constitution, 
1907,  Art.  X,  Sec.  8. 

^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  V,  Sec.  2. 

*  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  HI,  Sec.  3;  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  V, 
Sec.  3. 

°  Proceedings,  1908,  p.  31;  The  Marble  Worker,  November,  1909, 
p.  240. 

^  See  below,  p.  105. 

'Constitution,  1884,  Art.  XH,  Sec.  7;  Constitution,  1909,  Art. 
XVn,  Sec.  4. 

*  Proceedings,  1908.  p.  12. 
'Constitution,  1903,  Art.  HI,  Sec.  2. 


487]  The   Control   of  Membership  33 

in  a  similar  manner  admit  persons  who  have  been  expelled 
or  who  have  worked  or  learned  the  trade  in  non-union  shops. 
A  workman  over  fifty-five  years  of  age  can  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  IMolders'  Union  only  by  securing  the  assent  of  the 
national  president.^ 

*  Constitution,  1907,  Standing  Resolution  No.  55,  p.  56. 


CHAPTER    II 

ADMISSION   BY   APPRENTICESHIP 

Provision  by  law  or  custom  for  some  form  of  appren- 
ticeship arose  out  of  the  industrial  need  for  the  competent 
training  of  persons  seeking  to  engage  in  the  handicrafts. 
So  long  as  the  domestic  stage  of  manufacture  predominated 
in  industrial  organization,  the  system  of  indenturing  ap- 
prentices prevailed.  The  general  practice  of  having  every 
boy  of  the  artisan  class  indentured  was  transplanted  from 
Europe  into  the  American  colonies.  Indeed,  legal  protec- 
tion of  the  old  indentured  apprenticeship  has  persisted  in  the 
legislation  of  certain  States  until  the  present  time.^  The 
Industrial  Revolution  and  the  resulting  form  of  large-scale 
production  in  factories  rendered  obsolete  the  older  method 
of  manufacture.  Corresponding  to  the  change  in  industrial 
methods,  the  system  of  indentured  apprenticeship  as  a  mode 
of  training  handicraftsmen  gradually  receded  in  importance 
until  it  has  been  virtually  abolished. 

But  although  apprenticeship  has  largely  passed  as  a  legal 
or  customary  institution,  its  analogue  at  least  has  persisted. 
Trade  societies  and  trade  unions  in  the  United  States  have 
from  the  early  nineteenth  century  insisted  on  the  observ- 
ance of  the  indentured  system  or  of  its  successor — a  cus- 
tomary apprenticeship  unenforced  by  law.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  division  of  labor  increasingly  prevalent 
throughout  the  period  the  need  for  extended  training  pre- 
liminary to  entrance  into  a  trade  has,  indeed,  diminished 
in  many  of  the  manufacturing,  building,  and  miscellaneous 
trades.  Yet  some  form  of  apprenticeship  training  may  be 
found  in  the  majority  of  these  trades.  The  trade  unions 
endeavor  to  maintain  wherever  practicable  the  traditional 

^Laws  of  Wisconsin,  1911,  Chapter  347. 

34 


489]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  35 

apprenticeship  by  enforcing  as  one  condition  of  admission  to 
membership  the  general  requirement  that  the  candidate  shall 
have  had  an  apprenticeship  of  actual  work  and  instruction 
in  the  trade. 

A  combination  of  motives  appears  to  actuate  unionists  in 
establishing  this  requirement.  In  prescribing  ability,  age, 
and  kinship  as  qualifications,  the  union  apprentice  rule 
serves  the  primary  purpose  of  the  old  apprenticeship  sys- 
tem in  securing  competently  trained  craftsmen.  It  also 
operates  to  check  the  influx  of  young  workers  into  a  trade 
and  to  prevent  the  displacement  of  journeymen  by  poorly 
trained  workers.  When  the  rule  includes,  as  it  usually  does, 
a  provision  for  limiting  the  number  of  apprentices  who  may 
be  admitted  according  to  a  fixed  ratio  to  the  number  of  em- 
ployed journeymen,  its  obvious  purpose  is  to  limit  members 
with  a  view  to  maintaining  or  raising  wage  rates.  It  is  not, 
however,  within  the  scope  of  the  present  chapter  to  con- 
sider in  detail  the  purpose  of  the  apprenticeship  regula- 
tion; the  intention  here  is  to  determine  the  meaning  of 
apprenticeship  when  the  unions  enforce  it  as  a  condition  of 
admission  to  membership. 

Some  fifty  national  and  international  unions  in  the  United 
States  make  no  provision  in  their  rules  and  agreements  for 
a  specified  term  of  previous  instruction  as  a  requisite  for 
membership.^  The  means  for  determining  the  eligibility  of 
applicants  for  membership  in  these  unions  are  treated  else- 
where in  an  analysis  of  the  competency  requirement  for 
admission.^  It  should  not  be  inferred  that  no  skilled  work- 
men are  employed  in  any  of  these  trades.  The  reasons  for 
the  absence  of  any  attempt  to  enforce  the  apprentice  rule 
in  these  unions  may  be  seen  by  subdividing  the  fifty  unions 
into  three  groups  and  considering  the  character  of  the  work 
of  certain  typical  trades  in  each  group.  The  first  group  con- 
sists of  unions  of  essentially  unskilled  workmen,  such  as  the 

^  Motley,  "  Apprenticeship  in  American  Trade  Unions,"  in  Johns 
Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science, 
Series  XXV,  Nos.  11-12,  p.  535. 

'  See  below,  pp.  66,  67. 


36  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [490 

Car  Workers,  the  Hod  Carriers,  the  Freight  Handlers, 
the  Longshoremen,  the  Foundry  Employees,  the  Hotel  and 
Restaurant  Employees,  the  Glass  House  Employees,  the 
Maintenance-of-Way  Employees,  the  Seamen  and  the  Mine 
Workers.  Here  the  character  of  the  work  performed  is 
such  that  a  prescribed  period  of  training  is  unnecessary. 
By  engaging  in  the  work  a  short  time  under  the  guidance  of 
fellow  employees  the  beginner  is  soon  able  to  perform  it 
satisfactorily. 

A  second  group  of  unions  comprises  principally  the  rail- 
road unions,  and  in  addition  the  Steam  Engineers,  the  Coal 
Hoisting  Engineers,  and  the  Stationary  Firemen.  In  these 
trades  long  service  and  a  high  degree  of  skill  are  required 
to  make  competent  workmen.  The  terms  upon  which  be- 
ginners are  accepted  and  upon  which  promotions  are  made 
to  positions  where  the  workmen  become  eligible  for  mem- 
bership in  the  unions  are  not  under  the  direction  of  the 
unions  but  are  controlled  by  the  employer.  In  consequence 
the  unions  have  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  attempt  to  enforce 
a  rule  of  apprenticeship  as  a  condition  of  entrance. 

The  third  group  of  unions  comprise  those  in  which 
the  apprentice  requirement  for  eligibility  to  membership, 
although  at  one  time  in  force,  has  now  been  abandoned. 
It  includes  such  unions  as  the  United  Garment  Workers, 
the  Textile  Workers,  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,  and 
the  Meat  Cutters  and  Butcher  Workmen.  Within  these 
trades  the  subdivision  of  the  processes  of  production  and 
the  introduction  of  machinery  have  progressed  so  far  that 
the  need  for  a  prolonged  period  of  training  has  been 
removed.  The  task  of  each  individual,  instead  of  being 
complex  and  difficult,  as  when  one  person  completed  the 
entire  product,  has  become  very  simple.  New  and  inex- 
perienced workmen  begin  the  work  at  any  time.  It  is  in 
recognition  of  changed  industrial  conditions  that  the  unions 
here  do  not  as  formerly  prescribe  the  apprenticeship  quali- 
fication for  admission. 

A  tendency  toward  the  abandonment  of  any  regulated 


I 


49i]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  37 

form  of  apprenticeship  may  also  be  found  in  many  other 
trades.  The  unions  have  generally,  however,  continued  to 
demand  adherence  to  the  apprenticeship  requirement  in 
some  one  branch  of  a  trade  or  in  certain  districts  of  their 
territorial  jurisdiction,  although  at  the  same  time  the  system 
may  have  already  been  set  aside  in  other  districts  or 
branches.  For  example,  the  constitution  of  the  Cigar 
Makers'  International  Union  provides  that  all  persons  learn- 
ing cigar  making  or  packing  must  serve  a  three  years'  ap- 
prenticeship, and  that  no  shop  shall  be  grante'd  the  use  of 
the  union  label  in  which  this  provision  is  not  enforced.  It 
is  admitted,  however,  that  in  much  if  not  most  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  union  this  rule  is  not  enforced.  Accord- 
ing to  the  printed  statements  and  verbal  expressions  of  its  of- 
ficers, the  union  attempts  to  enforce  the  apprentice  rule  only 
in  those  localities  where  the  union  is  exceptionally  strong.^ 

Certain  methods  of  acquiring  knowledge  of  a  craft  have 
frequently  been  accepted  as  substitutes  for  regular  appren- 
ticeship. Each  such  device  involves  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree  the  breaking  up  or  disregard  of  the  prescribed  sys- 
tem. Three  forms  of  substitution  may  be  differentiated. 
In  the  first  place,  certain  trades  in  the  clothing  industry,  in 
boot  and  shoe  making,  in  cigar  making,  have  no  need  for  an 
extended  apprenticeship  period.  Accordingly,  a  quasi-ap- 
prenticeship  has  been  introduced,  under  which  only  a  few 
months  are  required  for  learning  the  work.  This  method 
is  common  in  trades  in  which  the  subdivision  of  processes 
is  widely  extended. 

In  the  second  place,  a  trade  may  be  casually  acquired  even 
though  an  apprenticeship  training  be  ordinarily  prescribed 
as  the  proper  method  for  learning  it.  The  building-trades 
unions  have  had  most  success  in  apprenticeship  regulation, 
and  they  still  attempt  to  enforce  the  requirement,  but  it  is 
commonly  known  that  an  ordinary  laborer  can  acquire  by 

^  Testimony  of  Ex-President  Adolph  Strasser  of  Cigar  Makers' 
International  Union  in  Report  of  Industrial  Commission,  Vol.  VII, 
p.  26s ;  statement  of  President  George  W.  Perkins  to  the  writer  in 
personal  interview  in  June,  1910. 


38  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [492 

casual  application  in  different  localities  a  working  knowledge 
of  any  of  these  crafts  without  undergoing  the  required  term 
of  training.^  General  inquiry  of  the  mechanics  of  the 
building  trades  as  to  how  they  acquired  their  craft  knowl- 
edge confirms  the  impression  that  in  a  large  number  of 
cases  it  was  merely  picked  up. 

The  third  method  by  which  certain  trades  are  acquired 
without  compliance  with  the  apprentice  rule  as  provided  by 
the  union  is  the  "  improver  "  and  "  helper  "  system  of  pro- 
motion or  progression  within  a  trade.  An  "  improver  "  is 
one  who  has  passed  the  apprentice  age,  but  is  allowed  to 
work  at  wages  as  a  learner  in  order  to  acquire  the  profi- 
ciency of  a  journeyman.  The  Wood,  Wire  and  Metal 
Lathers  and  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons  permit  this  prac- 
tice.- The  "  helper,"  as  the  name  implies,  only  assists.  He 
does  not  receive  instruction,  but  his  work  is  restricted  to 
certain  kinds  of  unskilled  employment.  By  reason  of  his 
opportunity  to  watch  the  work  of  the  journeymen  he  is 
frequently  enabled  to  acquire  the  trade.  The  distinctive 
feature  of  this  method  of  entering  a  trade  is  the  absence 
of  any  definite  term  of  preparation  as  a  requisite  for  ad- 
mission. 

In  the  plumbing  and  steam-fitting  trades  and  among  the 
Printing  Pressmen  and  Assistants,  the  Boiler  Makers,  the 
Blacksmiths,  and  the  Machinists  the  regulation  and  control 
of  the  "  helper  "  has  occasioned  considerable  friction.  The 
contention  of  the  unionists,  as  against  the  employers,  has 
been  that  the  "  helper  "  system  increases  the  supply  of  work- 
men too  rapidly,  and  that  the  workmen,  moreover,  are  not 
thoroughly  trained.  Different  means  have  been  adopted 
by  these  unions  to  remedy  this  defect.  As  the  titles  of  the 
unions  suggest,  "helpers"  are  in  some  cases  organized  in 
separate  unions  and  in  other  cases  are  admitted  directly  as 
members.  The  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders  and 
Helpers  and  the  Printing  Pressmen  and  Assistants  require 

^Jackson,    Unemployment    and    Trade    Unions    (London,    1910), 
pp.  65-66. 
^Report  of  President,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1903,  p.  211. 


493]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  39 

that  "  helpers  "  must,  in  addition,  serve  the  regular  term  of 
apprenticeship  before  they  may  become  eligible  to  journey- 
man membership.  The  "  helper "  system  in  this  case,  in- 
stead of  being  a  substitute  for  apprenticeship,  becomes  a 
preliminary  to  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  been  found 
necessary  to  unionize  the  "  helpers  "  in  all  trades  in  which 
the  system  prevails.  The  "  helper  "  stage  thus  leads  usually 
to  union  membership  without  regular  apprenticeship. 

Some  fifty  unions,  as  has  been  stated,  do  not  attempt  to 
maintain  an  apprenticeship  rule.  In  certain  of  these,  mod- 
ern industrial  conditions  have  destroyed  the  original  system 
of  apprenticeship;  in  others  the  union  apprentice  require- 
ment and  the  methods  by  which  beginners  formerly  were 
trained  have  been  radically  modified.  The  substitute  meth- 
ods by  which  competency  is  frequently  acquired  are  also 
beyond  union  control  and  are  usually  opposed  by  the  unions. 

The  remaining  national  unions,  about  seventy-five  in 
number,  continue  to  prescribe  an  apprenticeship  qualifica- 
tion. We  shall  accordingly  consider,  first,  the  terms  upon 
which  persons  may  in  these  trades  enter  on  an  apprentice- 
ship acceptable  to  the  union;  and,  second,  we  shall  attempt 
to  determine  the  meaning  of  this  apprenticeship  when  en- 
forced by  the  unions  as  a  condition  of  membership. 

All  unions  making  apprenticeship  one  of  the  conditions 
of  admission  attempt  further  to  guard  the  entrance  into  the 
trade  by  imposing  with  more  or  less  strictness  certain  phys- 
ical qualifications  and  by  maintaining  a  numerical  limita- 
tion of  persons  desiring  to  become  apprentices.  In  the 
highly  skilled  and  strongly  organized  trades  into  which  en- 
trance may  as  a  rule  be  secured  only  after  serving  the  pre- 
scribed apprenticeship  the  requirements  for  becoming  an  ap- 
prentice are  of  special  importance.  The  restrictions  guard- 
ing entrance  to  apprenticeship  are  here  both  qualitative  and 
quantitative.  The  former  usually  prescribe,  in  addition  to 
ability  to  work,  an  age  limit  and  in  some  unions  a  kinship 
connection  which  operates  to  limit  in  varying  ratio  the  num- 
ber of  apprentices. 


40  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [494 

In  order  that  the  boy  may  be  tested  as  to  abiHty,  fitness, 
and  willingness  to  work  it  is  customary  in  certain  trades  to 
permit  him  to  be  engaged  to  an  employer  for  a  probationary 
period  varying  from  two  weeks  to  six  months  or  two  years 
or  more  as  a  learner,  improver,  or  "  helper."  For  example, 
in  1895  the  Master  Plumbers'  Association  of  Connecticut 
and  the  Master  Plumbers  of  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  pro- 
vided by  agreement  with  the  local  unions  for  a  probationary 
time  for  apprentices  of  six  and  three  months  respectively.^ 
In  1905  the  Metal  Polishers  provided  that  no  one  should 
become  an  apprentice  in  the  union  who  had  not  worked  for 
three  months  at  the  trade.^  The  Broom  and  Whisk  Makers 
require  a  two-year  term  of  apprenticeship  after  the  boy 
works  for  a  year  as  a  "  sorter."  In  the  glass  bottle  blowing 
trade  the  apprentice  is  usually  a  boy  who  has  been  employed 
about  the  factory  at  odd  jobs  for  a  considerable  time.  The 
Boiler  Makers  provide  that  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  appren- 
tices must  come  from  "  helpers  "  who  have  already  worked 
two  years ;  the  other  half  may  come  from  the  rivet  heaters.^ 
In  the  plumbing  trade,  apprentices  have  in  many  cases  been 
already  working  as  "helpers."  The  Printing  Pressmen 
require  that  the  persons  must  have  been  employed  at  least 
four  years  as  "  helpers "  before  they  may  be  accepted  as 
apprentices.* 

Following  the  old  regulation  of  the  apprenticeship  system 
by  law  and  custom,  the  unions  have  ordinarily  designated 
age  limits  within  which  an  apprentice  may  enter  upon  or 
complete  his  training.  The  characteristics  of  the  trade  orig- 
inally determined  the  limits.  Where  much  physical  strength 
is  needed  and  some  danger  is  encountered,  the  apprentices 

^Report  adopted  by  Connecticut  Master  Plumbers'  Convention; 
Agreement  between  Master  Plumbers'  Association,  of  Lynn  [Mass.] 
and  Vicinity,  and  Journeymen  Plumbers'  Association,  No.  77,  Sec.  3, 
in  Plumbers,  Gas  Fitters  and  Steam  Fitters'  Journal,  September, 
1895,  P-  2. 

^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  43,  Sec.  3. 

^Proceedings,  1908,  pp.  475,  494-496;  Subordinate  Lodge  Consti- 
tution, 1908,  Art.  in,  Sec.  2;  statement  of  Secretary  W.  J.  Gil- 
thorpe  to  the  writer  in  interview,  July,  1910. 

*  Constitution,  1905,  Art.  Ill,  Sees,  i,  2. 


495]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  41 

obviously  should  be  somewhat  older  and  of  greater  strength 
than  in  trades  where  less  strength  is  necessary  and  dangers 
to  beginners  are  less  frequent.  Thus,  for  instance,  the 
Travellers'  and  Leather  Novelty  Workers'  International 
Union  refused  to  accept  apprentices  under  fourteen  years 
of  age;  the  Shingle  Weavers,  under  fifteen;  the  Stone  Cut- 
ters, under  fifteen;  the  Alolders  and  the  Pattern  ^lakers, 
under  sixteen;  the  Boiler  Makers  and  the  Paving  Cutters, 
under  sixteen,  and  the  Brewery  Workmen,  under  eighteen. 
The  setting  of  age  limits  seems  to  be  justified  as  a  trade 
regulation  in  order  that  a  proper  training  of  apprentices 
may  be  secured  at  the  most  appropriate  age.  The  minimum 
limit  prevents  an  apprentice's  being  accepted  at  too  early  age, 
when  an  excessive  amount  of  care  and  attention  must  be 
bestowed  and  the  likelihood  of  regular  advance  is  corre- 
spondingly less. 

A  large  number  of  unions  prohibit  the  entrance  upon  an 
apprenticeship  of  persons  above  a  certain  age.  In  this  case 
it  is  held  that  an  applicant  for  instruction  above  the  maxi- 
mum age  is  not  w^illing  to  submit  to  the  training  and  dis- 
cipline, and  that  "usually  he  does  not  become  a  competent 
tradesman.  The  Bricklayers  and  Masons  do  not  require, 
but  recommend,  that  local  unions  do  not  accept  apprentices 
over  twenty-one  years  of  age.  This  recommendation  is, 
however,  the  prevailing  rule  of  the  unions.^  A  strong 
reason  for  fixing  a  maximum  limit  is  to  discourage  the  em- 
ployment of  untrained  men  in  place  of  regular  apprentices. 
The  Journeymen  Stone  Cutters  refuse  to  accept  as  appren- 
tices persons  over  twenty  years  of  age,  the  Brewery  Work- 
ers, the  Painters  and  Decorators,  the  Carpenters  and  the 
Molders,  over  twenty-one,  and  the  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron 
Ship  Builders,  over  twenty-five. 

^  In  1902  the  president  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Inter- 
national Union,  in  his  Annual  Report,  p.  264,  in  reporting  a  deci- 
sion of  a  case  before  the  judiciary  board,  said,  "No  subordinate 
Union  has  the  right  to  indenture  apprentices  after  they  have  attained 
their  majority,  this  being  an  infringement  upon  both  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  [International]  Union  in  its  form  of  apprentice 
indentures,  and  the  local  law  of  No.  21  [of  Columbus,  O.]." 


42  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [49^ 

In  a  few  small,  well-organized  trades  more  rigid  age 
limits  are  fixed  within  which  apprentices  are  accepted.  The 
purpose  of  these  measures  is  to  restrict  in  an  indirect  manner 
the  number  entering  the  trade.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  In- 
ternational Brotherhood  of  Tip  Printers  accepts  in  shops 
controlled  by  it  apprentices  only  from  the  age  of  sixteen  to 
eighteen,  while  the  National  Print  Cutters'  Association  will 
receive  apprentices  only  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
seventeen.^  The  Pen  and  Pocket  Knife  Blade  Grinders  and 
Finishers'  National  Union  rejects  apprentices  beyond  a  cer- 
tain age;  but  this  restriction  does  not  apply  to  the  sons  of 
members.^ 

A  trade  custom  long  prevalent  among  handicraftsmen 
granted  the  journeyman  an  exclusive  privilege  to  teach  his 
trade  to  his  son  or  to  some  member  of  his  family.  Certain 
of  the  older  trade  organizations  have  explicitly  recognized 
this  custom  in  constitutional  provisions  for  giving  preference 
to  sons  of  members  in  selecting  apprentices.  Other  unions 
in  practice  give  preference  to  sons  of  members  when  accept- 
ing apprentices.  Thus,  the  constitution  of  the  Stone  Cut- 
ters' Union  provides  that  while  any  local  union  may  regulate 
the  number  of  apprentices  in  each  yard  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion, stone  cutters'  sons  in  every  case  must  have  the  pref- 
erence.^ So  too  in  1905  a  local  union  of  the  Plumbers' 
United  Association  permitted  only  sons  of  journeymen  or 
boss  plumbers  to  learn  the  trade.*  The  same  practice  ob- 
tains in  many  other  trades,  especially  in  those  in  which  op- 
portunities are  favorable  for  an  apprentice's  entering  a  skilled 
craft ;  the  position  of  the  father  is  rewarded  by  the  prefer- 
ence shown  his  son.^     Only  a  few  unions,  however,  make 


^  General  Laws  of  International  Brotherhood  of  Tip  Printers, 
Art.  V,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1904,  National  Print  Cutters'  Associa- 
tion, Art.  XV,  Sec.  i. 

^  General  Laws,  Sec.  15a. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  7. 

*  Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  March,  1905, 
p.  14. 

*At  Mt.  Vernon,  O.,  in  1904,  the  secretary  of  the  Bricklayers' 
Local  Union  No.  32  made  complaint  to  the  International  Union 
against  two  boys  who  were  to  serve  their  period  of  apprenticeship 


497]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  43 

relationship  a  qualification  for  entrance  upon  an  apprentice- 
ship. The  Table  Knife  Grinders'  Union  maintains  that 
"  no  one  is  eligible  to  learn  the  trade  of  table  knife  grind- 
ing and  finishing,  except  the  son  of  a  member  of  this  Union 
or  of  a  member  who  has  died  or  become  disabled,  or  retired 
from  the  trade  to  follow  some  other  occupation."^  In  1884 
the  Window  Glass  Workers  made  kinship  a  qualification  for 
permission  to  learn  the  trade.  The  present  (1910)  require- 
ment is  even  more  stringent,  and  is  as  follows :  "  No  mem- 
ber of  this  Association  shall  teach  his  trade,  whether  flat- 
tener,  cutter,  blower  or  gatherer,  to  any  other  person  ex- 
cepting his  own  son,  or  his  adopted  son,  adopted  before 
twelve  years  of  age.  In  case  of  the  disability  or  retirement 
of  the  father  from  his  trade,  for  a  period  of  not  more  than 
one  year,  another  member  of  the  same  trade  may  be  per- 
mitted to  teach  his  son.  In  case  of  the  death  of  the  father, 
a  son  may  be  permitted  to  learn  any  of  the  four  trades.  A 
brother  may  teach  his  trade  to  his  own  brother."-  The  ob- 
ject of  limitations  of  this  character  is,  of  course,  monopoly 
and  restriction.  The  secretary  of  the  National  Window 
Glass  Workers  frankly  stated  in  an  interview  that  if  the  rule 
were  rescinded  too  many  would  enter  the  trade. 

The  most  effective  device  whereby  the  union  may  guard 
the  regular  entrance  to  a  trade  is  the  limitation  of  the  num- 
ber, rather  than  the  requirement  of  certain  qualifications, 
of  persons  who  may  become  apprentices.  Since  the  begin- 
ning of  customary  or  statutory  recognition  of  the  industrial 
need  of  an  adequate  supply  of  well-trained  mechanics  a  lim- 
itation of  the  number  of  apprentices  has  been  attempted. 
The  essential  purpose  of  numerical  limitation  has  continued 
to  be  the  insuring  of  a  supply  of  workmen  according  to  the 
needs  of  each  trade.  But  it  may  easily  serve  also  one  im- 
mediate aim  of  trade  unionism — the  maintenance  of  wages 

under  their  fathers.  Since  the  apprenticeship  regulation  was  in  control 
of  the  local  unions,  the  International  Union  board  had  no  power  to 
act,  but  urged  adoption  of  rules  against  such  discriminating  methods 
(Report  of  President,  1904,  p.  285). 

^  Proceedings,  1896,  p.  14. 

^  By-Laws,  1910,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2. 


44  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [498 

— by  diminishing  the  competition  of  laborers  within  the 
trade.  Accordingly,  all  unions  attempting  apprentice  regu- 
lation enforce  more  or  less  successfully  some  form  of 
numerical  limitation  of  apprentices. 

Varying  forms  of  limitation  are  used.  But  whether  en- 
forced as  a  national  or  a  local  union  regulation,  the  com- 
monest form  is  a  fixed  ratio  to  the  number  of  journeymen, 
which  remains  the  same  however  great  the  number  of  jour- 
neymen employed.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Holders  have 
a  fixed  ratio  of  one  apprentice  to  five  journeymen  employed. 
Since  1902  the  Saw  Smiths  have  maintained  the  ratio  of  one 
to  ten.^  The  Lace  Operatives  enforce  a  ratio  ot  one  to 
nine;  the  Metal  Polishers,  one  to  eight;  the  Bridge  and 
Structural  Iron  Workers,  one  to  seven;  the  Boiler  Makers, 
one  to  five ;  and  the  Travellers'  Goods  and  Leather  Novelty 
Workers,  one  to  four.  In  many  trades  local  conditions 
make  it  necessary  that  the  local  unions  should  control  the 
number  of  apprentices.  It  has  consequently  been  the  policy 
of  the  Cigar  Makers,  the  Carpenters,  the  Painters,  the  Brick- 
layers, and  the  Printers  to  permit  the  ratio  to  be  determined 
by  the  local  unions.  In  such  cases  the  ratios  present  vary- 
ing proportions.  The  usual  ratio  prevailing  among  the  local 
unions  of  the  Painters  is  one  apprentice  to  a  shop  with  one 
for  each  five  additional  journeymen,  among  the  Bricklayers, 
one  to  three,  and  among  the  Printers,  one  to  five. 

A  second  form  of  ratio  is  a  declining  one,  by  which  the 
number  of  apprentices  is  reduced  as  the  number  of  journey- 
men increases.  Thus,  the  Broom  and  Whisk  ]\lakers  permit 
one  apprentice  to  a  shop  of  less  than  twelve  men,  two  to  a 
shop  of  less  than  twenty-two,  and  three  to  a  shop  of  twenty- 
two  men  or  more ;  but  no  more  than  three  may  be  accepted. 
This  fonn  of  regulation  merges  into  the  third  form  which 
limits  absolutely  the  number  that  may  be  employed  in  any 
one  shop.  Thus  the  Barbers'  International  Union  has  since 
1894  allowed  only  one  apprentice  to  any  shop  displaying  the 
union  card.^     Likewise  the  Journeymen  Plumbers'  United 

*  Constitution,  igo2,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  2. 

^  Constitution,  1894,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution,  1910,  Sec. 
III. 


499]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  45 

Association  provides  that  apprentices  may  be  accepted  when 
necessary,  but  local  unions  shall  in  no  case  accept  more  than 
four  in  any  one  shop.^ 

Assuming  that  a  properly  qualified  number  of  persons 
have  been  apprenticed  acceptably  both  to  the  union  and  to 
the  employer,  the  question  next  arising  is,  What  relation 
does  the  apprentice  sustain  to  the  union?  The  apprentice 
rule  may  require  a  completed  apprenticeship  for  admission 
to  membership;  if,  however,  the  union  ceases  to  exercise 
watchfulness  and  to  extend  protection  over  the  apprentice 
throughout  the  apprentice  period,  his  admission  to  appren- 
ticeship gives  him  no  assurance  that  upon  its  completion  he 
will  be  acceptable  for  membership  in  the  union.  Unless 
subject  to  union  influence  and  control,  a  body  of  apprentices 
may  be  used  by  the  employer  to  thwart  movements  for  main- 
taining wages.  It  is  difficult  for  an  apprentice  who  has  been 
thus  employed  to  gain  admission  thereafter  to  the  union. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  unions  extend  protection  over  per- 
sons as  soon  as  they  are  accepted  as  apprentices.  Ordina- 
rily a  certificate  or  card  from  the  union  is  issued  to  the  per- 
son immediately  upon  his  entrance  as  an  apprentice.  This 
signifies  the  approval  of  the  union.  In  many  cases  he  is  at 
once  thereafter  entitled  to  become  a  member  of  the  union. 
Thus  the  Shingle  Weavers,  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Car- 
penters and  Joiners,  the  Steel  Plate  Transferrers,  and  the 
Lace  Operatives  grant  apprentices  immediate  admission  as 
apprentice  members.  Usually  half  the  regular  initiation 
fee  and  dues  is  assessed.  The  Bakery  and  Confectionery 
Workers  provide  that  the  apprentices  and  helpers  shall  be 
organized  into  auxiliaries  of  the  union  under  whose  juris- 
diction they  are  employed,  and  shall  be  subject  to  payment 
of  reduced  initiation  fees.- 

Other  unions  which  issue  a  certificate  of  indenture  or  a 
card  of  approval  to  acceptable  apprentices  do  not  grant  them 
immediate  admission  to  membership,  but  provide  that  they 

^Constitution,  1908,  Sec.   117. 

'  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  i. 


46  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [S^*^ 

may  become  members  at  some  specified  time  before  the 
period  be  completed.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Machine 
Printers'  Beneficial  Association  since  1886  has  considered 
its  legal  apprentices  eligible  for  membership  after  one  year 
of  the  seven  years'  required  term.^  In  1889  the  Glass  Bot- 
tle Blowers'  District  Assembly  No.  149  made  similar  con- 
cession, provided  that  the  apprentice  was  of  good  character.^ 
The  International  Association  of  Machinists  admits  ap- 
prentices to  membership  after  they  have  served  two  years  of 
the  four-year  required  term,  upon  payment  of  half  the  ini- 
tiation fee,  dues,  and  assessments.'*  Since  1889  the  Inter- 
national Typographical  Union  has  recommended  that  the 
local  unions  admit  apprentices  to  membership  in  the  last 
year  of  the  apprentice  period.*  The  Molders  in  1899  made 
provision  for  admitting  apprentices  as  "  partial "  members 
of  the  union  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  of  the  four-year 
term  at  a  lower  initiation  fee.^  In  1909  the  Pattern  Makers 
adopted  a  provision  permitting  an  apprentice  in  the  last  six 
months  of  the  five-year  period,  "  if  capable,  and  recom- 
mended by  a  majority  in  the  shop  where  he  is  employed  and 
by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  all  present,"  to  be  admitted  to  mem- 
bership by  any  subordinate  association.^ 

Certain  other  unions  make  membership  in  the  union  com- 
pulsory upon  apprentices  either  at  the  beginning  or  at  some 
time  during  the  period  of  apprenticeship.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, in  1905  the  Metal  Polishers  and  Buffers'  Inter- 
national Union  provided  that  apprentices  must  become  mem- 
bers of  the  local  unions  of  their  branch  of  the  trade.''  The 
Journeymen  Tailors  require  apprentices  to  become  mem- 
bers upon  attaining  the  age  of  eighteen.®  The  Boiler 
Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders  and  Helpers  require  the 

'  By-Laws,  1886,  Art.  V,  Sec.  5 ;  By-Laws,  1906,  Art.  V,  Sec.  5. 

*  Proceedings,  1889,  p.  61. 

^  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  VH,  Sec.  2. 

*  General  Laws,  1889,  Sec.  37;  General  Laws,  1910,  Sec.  55, 
"  Iron  Molders'  Journal,  August,  1899,  p.  406. 

'  Constitution,  1909,  Rule  29. 

'  Constitution,  1905,  Art.  44,  Sec.  3 ;   Constitution,  1906,  Art.  43, 
Sec.  3. 

*  Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  33. 


5oi]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  47 

apprentice  to  take  out  an  apprenticeship  card  of  member- 
ship in  his  local  union  after  two  years'  time  has  been  served ; 
"  helpers  "  engaged  as  apprentices  are  required  to  secure  this 
card  at  once.^  The  International  Brotherhood  of  Black- 
smiths and  Helpers  requires  apprentices  to  become  mem- 
bers at  the  end  of  two  years  and  a  half  of  the  four-year 
period.^ 

As  has  been  indicated,  the  payments  required  of  approved 
apprentices  as  admission  fees  and  membership  dues  are  ordi- 
narily reduced  to  about  one  half  of  the  regular  charges.  It 
is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  privileges  of  apprentice  mem- 
bership are  usually  limited  to  attendance  upon  the  meetings 
without  voting,  with  very  restricted  rights,  or  no  rights  at 
all,  in  the  matter  of  the  beneficiary  features  of  the  union. 
The  motives  of  the  unions  in  permitting  or  requiring  ap- 
prentices to  enter  into  this  limited  or  partial  membership 
relation  are  clearly  indicated  in  the  recommendation  of  the 
International  Typographical  Union  to  its  local  unions  to 
admit  apprentices  to  membership  in  their  last  year,  "  to  the 
end  that  upon  the  expiration  of  their  terms  of  apprentice- 
ship they  may  become  acquainted  with  the  workings  of  the 
union  and  be  better  fitted  to  appreciate  its  privileges  and 
obligations  upon  assuming  full  membership."^  Likewise,  the 
international  secretaries  of  the  United  Brewery  Workmen 
recommended  at  the  convention  of  1906  that  "  the  appren- 
tices should  become  members  of  our  organization  from  the 
day  of  their  employment  in  the  brewery,  thereby  giving  the 
union  an  opportunity  to  educate  them  in  unionism,  thereby 
preventing  them  becoming  traitors  during  lockouts  or 
strikes."* 

But  even  in  those  unions  wherein  the  apprentice  as  such 
is  entitled  to  a  more  or  less  restricted  membership  status  the 
union  rule  requires  some  form  of  completed  apprenticeship 
as  a  condition  of  membership  with  full  duties,  privileges, 

^  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2. 
'  Constitution  of  Local  Unions,  1903,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  2. 
'  General  Laws,  1910,  Sec.  55. 
*  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  104. 


48  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [502 

and  benefits.  If  every  apprentice  served  a  term  perfectly 
satisfactory  to  the  union,  including  his  admission  into  ap- 
prentice membership,  he  would  have  assurance  of  passing 
without  difficulty  into  full  membership  at  the  end  of  the 
term.  Under  a  condition  of  this  sort  the  apprentice  rule 
would  become  of  less  importance  in  the  admission  of  ap- 
prentices who  have  completed  their  terms.  But,  in  fact, 
numerous  departures  from  the  regular  operation  of  appren- 
tice regulations  are  made,  which  render  necessary  the  en- 
forcement of  an  apprentice  requirement  for  admission.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  commonly  known  and  provided  for  that 
for  various  reasons  an  apprentice  in  any  trade  may  be  pre- 
vented from  completing  the  term  with  the  same  employer 
or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  same  local  union.  Seasonal 
and  cyclical  fluctuations  in  business  make  it  impossible  in 
certain  trades  for  many  apprentices  to  finish  their  terms 
without  interruption.  In  the  building  trades  it  is  particu- 
larly difficult  to  serve  a  complete  term  because  of  changes 
in  volume  of  business  in  different  parts  of  the  year,  and 
because  of  the  necessary  variations  in  the  length  of  engage- 
ments on  different  jobs. 

Again,  the  apprentice  frequently  desires  a  change  of  loca- 
tion, and  may  remove  to  another  establishment  or  to  another 
town  or  city,  either  to  complete  the  term  or  to  avoid  com- 
pleting it.  Furthermore,  in  view  of  the  varying  adaptability 
and  capacity  of  individual  beginners  in  a  trade,  an  appren- 
tice may  not  be  competent  at  the  end  of  the  prescribed  term 
to  perform  a  journeyman's  work.  In  such  a  case  it  is 
clearly  desirable  that  the  term  prescribed  by  the  apprentice 
rule  should  be  extended.  In  order,  therefore,  to  determine 
whether  or  not  an  applicant  for  full  membership  has  become 
competent,  the  unions  ordinarily  provide  for  a  test  or  exam- 
ination as  to  competency.^  In  such  a  requirement  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  apprentice  rule  forms  an  essential  part. 
Hence,  to  understand  the  interdependence  of  the  appren- 
ticeship and  the  competency  requirements  as  conditions  of 

^  See  Chapter  III,  p.  68  et  seq.,  where  consideration  is  given  to  the 
competency  requirement  for  admission. 


503]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  49 

admission  to  membership,  the  meaning  of  apprenticeship  as 
defined  by  the  union  rule  must  first  be  made  clear.  For 
this  purpose  the  unions  requiring  that  applicants  for  mem- 
bership shall  have  complied  with  the  apprentice  rule  may  be 
divided  into  two  classes,  according  to  the  character  of  the 
apprenticeship  requirement. 

In  the  first  and  larger  class  of  unions,  to  have  served  an 
apprenticeship  satisfying  the  requirement  for  admission  to 
membership  signifies  merely  that  the  period  fixed  by  the 
union  rule  has  actually  been  completed  in  working  at  the 
trade.  In  theory  this  time  of  service  is  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  customary  or  the  union  estimate  of  the  time  neces- 
sary for  an  applicant  for  membership  of  ordinary  ability  to 
learn  the  trade  well  enough  to  command  journeyman's  wages. 
Time  is,  however,  the  only  essential  element  of  the  appren- 
ticeship required  by  unions  of  the  first  class.  This  kind  of 
apprenticeship  is  the  prevailing  type  in  the  printing,  build- 
ing, metal,  and  certain  miscellaneous  trades. 

The  early  nineteenth  century  typographical  societies  of 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  Washington,  and  Baltimore  in- 
sisted that  all  apprentices  should  serve  a  definitely  pre- 
scribed term.  The  Philadelphia  society  provided  in  its  con- 
stitution of  1802  that  no  person  should  be  eligible  to  become 
a  member  who  had  not  "  served  an  apprenticeship  satisfac- 
tory to  the  board  of  directors."^  The  rule  of  the  New 
York  society  in  1809  was  that  no  one  should  be  admitted 
who  had  not  "  duly  and  regularly  served  the  term  of  three 
years."^  A  survival  of  this  early  policy  is  the  uniform  prac- 
tice of  the  unions  in  the  printing  trades  of  specifying  the 
term  of  years  for  an  apprentice  to  serve.  Until  1902  the 
International  Union  had  not  recommended  any  definite 
term  as  the  proper  one  for  the  local  unions  to  enforce.  The 
local  unions  ordinarily  fixed  this  term  at  four  years.  Since 
1902,  however,  the  International  Union  has  fixed  four  years 
as  the  minimum  time  which  must  have  been  served  before 


^MS.  Constitution  of  Philadelphia  Typographical  Society,   1802, 
Art.  XV. 
*MS.  Minutes,  Typographical  Society  of  New  York,  1S09,  p.  46. 
4 


50  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [5^4 

admission  to  membership  is  possible.^  The  Printing  Press- 
men require  applicants  for  membership  as  pressmen  to  show 
in  their  apphcation  sufficient  proof  of  an  actual  appren- 
ticeship of  at  least  four  years,  served  on  the  floor  as  appren- 
tice pressmen,  before  being  admitted  to  full  membership. 
Credit  is  given  for  all  apprenticeship  time  whenever  it  may 
have  been  actually  served.-  The  Brotherhood  of  Book- 
binders enforces  the  full  term  for  entrance  to  the  trade  by 
refusing  to  permit  members  to  work  in  any  shop  where  a 
workman  is  employed  who  has  refused  to  serve  the  full 
term  of  four  years. ^ 

Other  unions  in  the  printing  trades  which  require  a  min- 
imum service  are  the  German-American  Typographia,  the 
Lithographers,  the  Photo-Engravers,  the  Stereotypers  and 
Electrotypers,  and  the  Steel  Plate  Transferrers.  The 
Bookbinders  and  the  Photo-Engravers  require  that  the  ap- 
prentice certificate  issued  to  new  apprentices  shall  be  pre- 
sented as  proof  of  a  completed  term  when  application  is 
made  for  membership.  The  Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers, 
in  cases  of  intermittent  employment,  require  the  apprentice 
to  file  an  affidavit  certifying  the  time  of  service;  this  must 
be  authenticated  before  favorable  action  may  be  taken  on 
the  application  for  admission.* 

Fluctuation  in  business  and  irregularity  of  employment 
in  the  building  trades  render  a  specified  term  more  difficult 
of  enforcement  than  in  the  printing  trades,  yet  for  many 
years  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons  and  the  Carpenters  have 
advocated  the  binding  of  an  apprentice  for  a  definite  term  of 
service.  The  Bricklayers  do  not  prescribe  a  time  limit, 
but  the  local  unions  in  practice  require  a  three-year  term. 
The  national  union  ordinarily  insists  upon  strict  compliance 
with  the  time  limit  set  by  any  local  union.^    The  time  served 

^  Barnett,  pp.  174,  195 ;  General  Laws,  1902,  Sec.  32. 

^Constitution,  1898,  Art.  XXII,  Sec.  4:  Constitution,  1909,  Art. 
III. 

'Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XV,  Sec.  5. 

*  General  Laws,  1904,  Sec.  19. 

^  In  July,  1887,  an  apprentice  who  claimed  that  his  term  was 
finished  on  a  two-year  agreement  applied  to  Local  Union  No.  il  of 


505]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  5^ 

by  an  apprentice  applicant  for  admission  must  be  vouched 
for,  and  apprentices  who  have  been  admitted  before  their 
time  has  been  completed  are  likely  to  be  excluded  from  mem- 
bership until  the  completion  of  the  term.^ 

The  local  unions  of  the  Bridge  and  Structural  Iron 
Workers  determine  the  term  of  apprenticeship,  which  in 
the  structural  branch  is  usually  eighteen  months  and  in  the 
ornamental  branch,  four  years.  The  Carpenters  and  Join- 
ers, the  Painters  and  Decorators,  the  Ship  Carpenters  and 
Joiners,  the  Shingle  Weavers,  the  Granite  Cutters,  and  the 
Journeymen  Stone  Cutters  and  the  Marble  Workers  require 
proof  that  the  apprentice  period  has  been  completed  before 
an  applicant  may  be  considered  eligible  for  journeyman 
membership.  Owing  to  the  character  of  employment  in 
such  trades,  the  unions  do  not  require  that  the  term  shall  be 
served  with  one  employer,  although  they  do  desire  that  such 
shall  be  the  case.  The  result  is  that  additional  care  and 
investigation  are  necessary  in  order  to  secure  satisfactory 
evidence  that  a  complete  term  has  been  served.  The  Paint- 
ers and  Decorators  prescribe  a  term  of  three  consecutive 
years.^  The  Shingle  Weavers  provide  that  applicants  for 
admission  may  not  be  tested  as  to  competency  until  one  year 
of  apprenticeship  has  actually  been  worked.^  The  rule  of 
the  Marble  Workers  requires  that  the  applicant  shall  satisfy 
the  examining  board  of  the  local  union  that  the  four-year 
term  has  been  completed,  and  also  imposes  a  fine  of  twenty- 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  was  admitted.  His  employer  had  refused  to 
give  him  a  discharge,  claiming  he  had  to  serve  three  years.  Mem- 
bers of  the  union  appealed  against  the  admission.  The  national 
executive  board  approved  the  action  of  the  local  union  in  admitting 
the  man,  his  time  having  been  finished  (Report  of  President  and 
Secretary  to  Convention,  1888,  pp.  16-17). 

^Report  of  President,  1903,  Cases  No.  34  and  No.  ,51,  pp.  104,  384; 
Report  of  President,  1904,  Case  No.  2,  Judiciary  Board  Decisions. 
p.  273.  In  1904  Secretary  Dobson.  in  a  judiciary  board  decision 
concerning  an  apprentice  excluded  from  admission,  upheld  the  policy 
of  the  union,  declaring  that  "  apprentices  cannot  be  admitted  to 
membership  until  they  have  fulfilled  their  time  of  apprenticeship, 
and  are  vouched  for  as  competent  mechanics,  besides  having  their 
release  from  their  employer"  (Report  of  President,  1904,  p.  380). 

^  Constitution,  Amended  by  Referendum,  March,  1910,  Sec.  257. 

'  By-Laws,  1909,  Art.  X,  Sec.  4. 


52  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [50^ 

five  dollars  upon  any  local  union  which  shall  knowingly 
admit  a  candidate  who  has  not  served  the  full  time.^ 

The  unions  of  the  metal  trades  which  enforce  a  definite 
term  of  apprenticeship  are  the  Molders,  the  Pattern  Mak- 
ers, the  Stove  Mounters,  the  Machinists,  the  Metal  Polishers 
and  Buffers,  and  the  Wood,  Wire  and  Metal  Lathers.  The 
Sheet  Metal  Workers  permit,  as  do  the  Bricklayers  and 
Masons,  the  local  unions  to  fix  the  term,  which  is  usually 
four  years.  A  national  officer  of  the  Molders  stated  that 
the  four-year  time  limit  "  is  rigidly  enforced."  Boys  who 
have  been  admitted  into  a  local  union  but  one  month  be- 
fore completing  the  term  have  been  excluded  until  the  four 
years  were  finished.^  This  requirement  is  a  continuation 
of  the  policy  of  the  Molders'  Union  of  the  sixties  and  there- 
after, during  which  period  a  "  regular  apprenticeship  "  of 
four  years  was  continuously  demanded.^  The  Pattern 
Makers'  League  recognizes  five  years  as  the  length  of  time 
an  apprentice  should  serve.  The  provision  of  the  league 
is  typical  of  union  practice  generally :  "  The  League  will 
not  admit  as  a  member  or  sanction  the  employment  of  any 
person  who  has  not  served  a  regular  apprenticeship  of  five 
years  at  pattern  making  except  where  the  applicant  has  been 
found  upon  investigation  to  be  a  competent  workman  and 
able  to  command  current  rate  of  wages.  Where  new  asso- 
ciations are  being  organized  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  the 
organizer  to  admit  such  candidates  to  membership."* 

In  the  miscellaneous  trades  the  unions  accepting  a  fixed 
period  of  work  in  the  trade  as  the  equivalent  of  satisfactory 
apprenticeship  include  the  Cigar  Makers,  the  Barbers,  the 
Brewers,  the  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers,  the  Broom 
and  Whisk  Makers,  and  the  Watch  Case  Engravers.  The 
Cigar  Makers,  since  their  organization  in  1864,  have  either 
required  or  recommended  an  apprenticeship  term  of  three 

^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  2. 

*  Interview  by  the  writer,  June,  1910. 

^  Iron  Holders'  International  Journal,  June  30,  1873,  p.  23;  Aug. 
10,  187s,  p.  409;  April,  1891,  p.  25. 

*  Constitution,  1902,  Art.  33 ;  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  33. 


507]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  53 

years.^  Although  the  rule  is  still  prescribed,  the  union,  as 
stated  above,  is  not  able  to  enforce  it.  This  position  illus- 
trates the  practice  and  policy  of  a  number  of  other  unions : 
an  apprentice  period  is  prescribed,  but  applicants  may  be 
admitted  who  are  able  to  do  the  work  of  the  trade  and  com- 
mand the  prevailing  wages,  and  no  investigation  is  made  as 
to  whether  the  required  term  has  or  has  not  been  completed. 
Such  evidence  is  not  considered  a  necessary  part  of  the 
proof  of  competency  which  entitles  the  applicant  to  admis- 
sion. Thus,  for  instance,  the  Machinists'  International  As- 
sociation provides  for  the  admission  of  all  applicants  judged 
competent  by  the  examining  committee  and  the  local  unions 
whether  or  not  the  four-year  term  required  by  the  appren- 
tice rule  of  the  association  has  been  spent  in  working  at  the 
trade.  Likewise,  the  Wood,  Wire  and  ]\Ietal  Lathers  ad- 
mit many  applicants  who  are  able  to  meet  the  practical  test 
for  competency  in  disregard  of  the  union  requirement  that 
two  years  must  previously  have  been  served  in  the  trade. 
The  Pattern  Makers,  while  demanding  strict  compliance 
with  the  five-year  apprentice  rule,  make  provision  for  cases 
in  which  competency  may  be  proved  without  the  apprentice 
term  having  been  served,  particularly  when  new  associations 
are  being  formed.  This  policy  prevails  also  with  the  Brick- 
layers and  Masons.^  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  when 
a  more  immediate  interest  of  the  union  may  be  served 
thereby,  even  the  unions  which  ordinarily  insist  most  rigidly 
that  the  specified  term  must  have  been  finished  will  admit 
applicants  known  not  to  have  served  the  full  term. 

The  purpose  of  the  apprentice  period  being  to  allow  suffi- 
cient time  to  ensure  well-trained  and  competent  wage  earn- 

*  Constitution,  1865,  Art.  II,  Sec.  i;  Constitution,  1896  (21st  ed.), 
Sec.  214. 

^Thus  in  1900  a  case  came  before  the  judiciary  board  of  the 
union  as  to  whether  or  not  a  local  union  should  admit  an  apprentice 
who  had  served  the  required  term  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
union.  It  was  held  that  even  if  the  applicant  did  not  present  proper 
proof  of  his  apprenticeship,  the  local  union  "  had  better  take  him  in, 
and  let  him  finish  out  his  time  under  instructions.  But  by  all  means 
get  him  in  somehow:  he  will  be  better  in  the  union  than  out  of  it" 
(Report  of  President,  1900,  Case  No.  7,  p.  125). 


54  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [508 

ers,  it  becomes  necessary  in  individual  cases  to  extend  the 
minimum  term  in  order  to  allow  those  who  learn  slowly  or 
who  begin  late  to  acquire  competency.  This  is  the  practice, 
for  example,  in  the  printing  trades.  An  extension  of  time 
gives  the  employer  the  benefit  of  the  further  services  of  the 
apprentice.  That  this  extension  of  the  term  and  the  conse- 
quent exclusion  for  a  time  from  full  membership  may  not 
become  an  established  practice,  certain  unions  attempt  to 
enforce  a  maximum  limit.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Piano 
and  Organ  Workers  provide  that  the  regular  term  shall  be 
the  maximum,  and  that  apprentices  may  not  serve  longer 
without  the  consent  of  the  local  union.^  The  Glass  Bottle 
Blowers  provide  that  an  apprentice  shall  serve  not  more 
than  five  years,  or  fifty  working  months  in  all.^  The  Cigar 
Makers  have  also  sought  to  prevent  the  apprentice  period 
from  being  extended,  thus  making  the  regular  term  the 
maximum.^ 

The  common  features  of  the  apprenticeship  requirement 
for  admission  are  thus  a  definite  term  and  a  limited  number 
of  persons.  It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the 
time  element  alone  is  the  subject  of  union  apprentice  regu- 
lation. It  is  also  important  to  the  union  that  every  appren- 
tice should  serve  the  time  in  a  shop  where  the  union  is  rec- 
ognized, and  that  the  character  of  his  training  should  be  so 
prescribed  by  the  union  that  he  may  make  regular  progress. 
The  unions  of  the  first  class  have  not  incorporated  these 
two  elements  into  the  apprentice  rule  for  admission.  There 
prevails,  however,  even  here  some  tendency  to  discriminate 
against  an  apprentice  trained  in  a  non-union  shop  when 
he  applies  for  admission.     Thus,  for  example,  in  189 1  a  re- 

'  Motley,  p.  83. 

'  By-Laws,  1910,  Sec.  13. 

^  In  1897  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  president  of  the  Cigar 
Makers'  International  Union  against  Local  Union  No.  55  of  Hamil- 
ton, Ont.,  for  compelling  an  apprentice  who  had  served  the  three- 
year  term  to  join  the  union.  It  was  claimed  that  the  apprentice  was 
bound  by  an  agreement  for  a  four-year  term.  The  decision  was 
that  unless  the  four-year  agreement  or  contract  in  writing  could  be 
shown,  the  apprentice  must  remain  a  member  of  the  union  (Cigar 
Makers'  Journal,  April,  1897,  p.  7).  For  another  case,  see  Cigar 
Makers'  Journal,  July,  1896,  p.  i. 


509]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  55 

jected  applicant  for  membership  in  Bricklayers'  and  Masons' 
Union  No.  3  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  appealed  to  the  execu- 
tive board,  claiming  that  he  desired  to  join  though  he  had 
served  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years  with  a  non-union 
boss.^  The  executive  board  sustained  the  local  union  in 
rejecting  the  applicant  on  account  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  apprenticeship  was  served  and  under  which 
he  had  been  working  since  its  completion.  Local  unions 
are  expressly  prohibited  by  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  the  Printing  Pressmen  and  Assistants,  and  the  Shin- 
gle Weavers  from  rejecting  a  candidate  "solely  on  the 
ground  of  having  served  his  apprenticeship  in  an  unfair 
office."  The  Operative  Potters  likewise  have  refused  ad- 
mission to  applicants  trained  in  non-union  offices.  In 
unions  of  the  first  class,  however,  persons  are  ordinarily 
admitted  without  discrimination  on  account  of  the  place 
or  shop  in  which  the  trade  may  have  been  acquired. 

The  character  of  the  apprentice's  training  and  his  prog- 
ress toward  the  rank  of  journeyman  are  also  frequently  mat- 
ters of  concern  to  the  union.  The  first  group  of  unions  do 
not  require  that  their  regulations  concerning  training  shall 
have  been  complied  with  before  a  candidate  is  admitted. 
The  regulation  actually  prevailing  takes  the  form  of  a 
charge  to  journeymen,  foremen,  or  members  of  a  union 
to  see  that  an  apprentice  has  thorough  instruction  and  op- 
portunities for  advancement.  The  following  rule  of  the 
Stone  Cutters  is  typical :  "  It  shall  be  the  imperative  duty  of 
shop  stewards  and  members  to  see  that  all  apprentices  in 
their  respective  shops  are  given  good  work,  in  order  that 
they  may  become  skilled  workmen,  fitted  to  take  their 
place  as  journeymen  in  our  midst."-  Of  the  same  tenor  is 
the  rule  of  the  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders :  "  Any 
person  engaging  himself  as  an  apprentice  .  .  .  must  be  given 

^Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  of  President,  1891,  Case  83, 
p.  cxvii. 

'Constitution,  1892,  Art.  V,  Sec.  8;  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  V, 
Sec.  8;  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  8. 


56  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [5  10 

an  opportunity  to  learn  all  branches  of  the  combined  trades 
of  the  Brotherhood."^ 

In  recent  years  the  tendency  in  some  unions  is  toward 
making  a  specific  statement  of  the  work  to  be  performed  by 
the  apprentice  during  each  year  of  his  term.  T-hus,  for 
example,  in  1902  the  Typographical  Union  recommended 
that  subordinate  unions  "make  every  effort  possible  to  se- 
cure the  proper  training  and  instruction  of  apprentices," 
and  in  1903  the  local  unions  were  ordered  to  pass  "  laws 
defining  the  grade  and  classes  of  work  apprentices  must  be 
taught  from  year  to  year."  In  1906  the  International  Union 
adopted  a  detailed  regulation  providing  that  apprentices  em- 
ployed in  the  trade  where  machine  or  typesetting  devices 
are  in  use  "must  be  employed  the  last  two  years  of  their 
apprenticeship  on  the  case,  excepting  the  last  three  months 
.  .  .  which  may  be  devoted  exclusively  to  work  on  linotype 
or  typesetting  devices."^  The  Marble  Workers  also  suggest 
for  the  apprenticeship  that  the  first  three  years  shall  be  served 
in  a  shop  in  cutting  and  fitting  marble  at  the  bench,  and  the 
fourth  year  in  a  building  under  the  direction  of  a  setter  of 
the  International  Association  of  Marble  Workers.  Appren- 
tices are  also  given  the  right  to  use  all  machines  under  the 
control  of  cutters  and  setters.  Regulations  of  this  char- 
acter are,  however,  not  enforced  by  the  unions  as  a  condition 
of  admission.  They  seem  to  have  for  their  purpose  the 
better  training  of  the  apprentice  for  the  trade.  Applicants 
for  membership  who  are  competent,  but  who  have  not  been 
trained  according  to  these  regulations,  are  in  all  cases  ad- 
mitted. 

In  the  second  class  of  unions  requiring  some  form  of 
apprenticeship  for  admission  the  apprenticeship  is  more 
fully  under  union  control  than  in  the  unions  previously 
considered.  Apprenticeship  as  a  prerequisite  for  admission 
is  here  taken  to  signify,  first,  that  the  period  fixed  by  the 
union  in  which  to  learn  the  trade  has  been  completed; 
second,  that  the  shop  or  establishment  in  which  the  time 

''  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2. 
'Proceedings,  1905,  p.  211. 


5ll]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  57 

has  been  spent  is  one  recognized  as  "  fair "  or  acceptable 
to  the  union;  and  third,  that  the  training  of  the  apprentice 
was  according  to  the  specifications  of  the  union.  The 
unions  maintaining  this  form  of  apprenticeship  requirement 
are  the  United  Hatters,  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,  the  Na- 
tional Print  Cutters,  the  Window  Glass  Workers,  the  Char- 
tered Society  of  Amalgamated  Lace  Operatives,  the  Ma- 
chine Printers  and  Color  Mixers,  and  the  Saw  Smiths. 
These  trades  are  highly  skilled,  largely  localized,  and 
strongly  organized. 

The  specified  terms  of  this  apprenticeship  are  in  the 
United  Hatters,  the  Lace  Operatives,  and  the  Window  Glass 
Workers,  three  years;  in  the  Saw  Smiths'  National  Union, 
four  years ;  in  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers  and  National  Print 
Cutters,  five  years;  and  in  the  Machine  Printers  and  the 
Color  Mixers,  seven  years.  The  terms  of  instruction  are 
maintained  both  by  custom  and  by  union  regulation.  The 
original  purpose  in  view  was  to  provide  an  adequate  supply 
of  well-trained  workmen  as  they  were  needed  in  the  trade. 
But  sight  was  certainly  not  lost  of  the  fact  that  a  definite 
term  of  instruction,  enforced  along  with  a  fixed  ratio  of 
apprentices  to  the  number  of  journeymen  employed,  results 
in  a  limitation  of  numbers.  The  rule  fixing  the  term  in 
the  United  Hatters  is  as  follows:  "To  constitute  a  journey- 
man a  boy  shall  be  required  to  serve  a  regular  apprentice- 
ship of  at  least  three  consecutive  years. "^  The  Lace  Opera- 
tives claim  to  admit  to  membership  only  the  competent 
workman,  who  is  defined  as  "one  who  has  served  three 
years  at  a  lace  machine."^ 

It  was  pointed  out  that  the  unions  in  which  the  common 
and  essential  feature  of  apprenticeship  is  the  length  of  the 
term  will  at  times  rather  accept  a  shorter  than  require  a 
longer  term.  Similarly,  although  the  unions  of  the  class 
now  under  consideration  as  a  rule  incline  toward  definite- 
ness  of  time  and  uniformity  in  its  observance,  yet  they  do 

^  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  II,  Sec.  2. 
'By-Laws,  1909,  Art.  Ill,  Sees.  i-S. 


58  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [512 

not  insist  on  the  element  of  time  as  an  absolute  requirement. 
Thus,  for  instance,  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,  by  providing 
that  an  apprentice  shall  serve  "  not  more  than  five  years," 
by  implication  provide  that  a  shorter  term  may  be  accepted.^ 
Certainly  variation  below  the  five-year  term  does  not  dis- 
qualify an  apprentice  for  admission  when  he  has  been  pre- 
vented through  no  fault  of  his  own  from  completing  it,  as 
when  a  factory  ceases  to  operate  or  becomes  non-union.^ 
This  exceptional  case  was  actually  provided  for  by  the 
United  Hatters  in  December,  1898,  when  application  was 
received  from  an  apprentice  who  had  been  unable  to  com- 
plete the  term  by  losing  his  position  in  the  shop  while  a  vol- 
unteer in  the  Spanish-American  War.  A  rule  was  adopted 
applicable  to  this  and  other  cases  of  a  similar  nature,  pro- 
viding that  "  any  boy  who  has  one  year  or  less  of  his  ap- 
prenticeship to  serve  shall  get  a  card  of  admission,  provided 
that  he  has  lost  his  shop."^ 

As  early  as  1863  the  Hat  Finishers'  Association  of  Phil- 
adelphia and  Camden  County,  New  Jersey,  required  as  a 
condition  of  admission  a  term  of  apprenticeship  served  in  a 
"  fair "  shop.  The  United  Hatters  at  present  make  the 
same  requirement.*  While  the  Amalgamated  Lace  Oper- 
atives do  not  expressly  require  that  the  time  shall  have  been 
passed  in  a  "  fair "  shop,  yet  in  practice  the  society  dis- 
criminates against  apprentices  from  other  shops,  since  all 
persons  who  have  previously  held  positions  considered  detri- 
mental to  the  interest  of  the  unions  are  subjected  by  the 
national  executive  board  to  special  terms  of  admission,' 
The  National  Print  Cutters  require  that  the  time  shall  have 
been  served  in  a  "  regular  recognized  shop."^  The  Window 
Glass  Workers  also  discriminate  against  apprentices  trained 
in  non-union  factories.     In  1896  the  association  provided 

^By-Laws,  1910,  Sec.  13. 

*  Proceedings,  1898,  p.  94. 

'  Journal  of  the  United  Hatters,  December  i,  1898,  p.  3. 

*  Constitution,  1863,  Art.  II,  Sec.  I ;  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  XII, 
Sec.  2. 

'  By-Laws,  1905,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2. 
'  Constitution,  1898,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  I. 


513]  Admission  by  Apprenticeship  59 

that  any  one  who  had  been  engaged  at  a  non-union  glass 
factory  should  be  ineligible  to  membership.  In  1906  a  rule 
was  placed  in  the  constitution  explicitly  debarring  from 
membership  all  apprentices  who  had  worked  in  certain  des- 
ignated non-union  factories,  which  included  all  such  fac- 
tories in  the  United  States.^  The  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  As- 
sociation has  for  many  years  pursued  the  practice  of  deny- 
ing admission  to  applicants  who  have  served  their  terms 
in  non-union  factories.  The  union  requirement  is  that  the 
term  shall  have  been  served  "  in  a  union  factory."  A  num- 
ber of  cases  have  arisen  in  the  history  of  the  union  in  which 
admission  has  been  denied  because  of  the  applicant's  train- 
ing in  or  connection  with  a  non-union  factory.^ 

The  unions  require  training  in  a  "  fair "  shop  for  two 
reasons:  First,  it  is  claimed  that  more  thorough  training 
may  be  acquired  in  union  than  in  non-union  shops.  In  this 
way  both  the  original  and  the  theoretical  purposes  of  an 
apprenticeship  system  are  served.  Second,  the  requirement, 
if  enforced,  enables  the  union  to  bring  beginners  under  union 
influence.  As  a  practical  means  of  organization  the  require- 
ment is  effective.  Refusal  of  admission  after  the  appli- 
cant has  completed  a  term  of  training  represents  a  stage  in 
the  development  of  union  policy  which  has  been  attained 
only  in  the  highly  skilled  and  well  organized  trades.  Such 
a  policy,  if  pursued  by  the  weaker  unions,  would  only  add 
strength  to  non-unionists. 

The  specific  work  to  be  performed  by  an  apprentice  dur- 
ing successive  stages  within  the  term  served  in  a  "  fair " 
shop  is  defined  in  more  or  less  detail  by  some  unions,  and 
in  some  cases  the  members  of  the  union  in  the  shop  are  also 

*  Constitution,  1896,  Art.  Ill,  Sec,  31 ;  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  I, 
Sec.  18. 

'  One  case  is  that  of  an  applicant  who  in  1892  appealed  to  the 
convention  of  the  association  for  admission  over  his  rejection  by  a 
subordinate  branch.  The  decision  of  the  association  was  that  "  it 
would  not  be  policy  to  admit  such  applicants  as  in  so  doing  it  would 
encourage  boys  to  go  into  non-union  factories  for  the  very  purpose 
of  getting  possession  of  the  trade,  if  they  found  they  could  be  taken 
into  the  association"  (Proceedings,  1892,  p.  136).  For  other  cases 
see  Proceedings,  1897,  p.  36;  Proceedings,  1908,  p.  94.  See  also 
Constitution,  1892,  Art.  I,  Sec.  3;  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  I,  Sec.  3. 


6o  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [5^4 

required  to  direct  the  instruction.  Regulations  of  this  type 
undoubtedly  originated  in  a  desire  to  have  well-trained 
workmen  enter  the  trade.  In  1906  the  National  Print  Cut- 
ters made  provision  for  regulating  "  the  manner  that  the  ap- 
prentice shall  be  employed  during  the  term  of  his  apprentice- 
ship."^ The  Window  Glass  Workers  specify  the  time 
within  the  term  at  which  the  apprentice  may  be  allowed  to 
learn  the  kinds  of  work  in  the  trade.-  The  Glass  Bottle 
Blowers  insist  that  manufacturers  shall  compel  beginners  in 
the  trade  to  blow  for  a  finisher  for  the  first  two  years.^ 
The  requirement  of  the  Saw  Smiths  in  more  general  terms 
is  that  "  it  shall  be  the  right  of  every  apprentice,  and  he 
shall  also  be  required  to  learn  all  branches  of  anvil  work 
in  the  shop  in  which  he  is  employed."*  The  United  Hatters 
provide  in  great  detail  that  "all  apprentices  registered  for 
the  making  department  after  being  instructed  three  months 
shall  continue  for  the  space  of  nine  months  at  sizing,  then 
six  months  at  blocking,  then  six  months  at  stiffening.  All 
apprentices  registered  for  the  finishing  department,  after 
being  instructed  three  months  shall  continue  for  nine  months 
at  finishing,  then  one  year  at  flanging  or  curling.  After 
this  space  of  time  the  employer  can  put  them  at  any  branch 
of  the  business  he  may  require  their  service."^ 

These  unions,  therefore,  reserve  the  right  to  exclude  ap- 
plicants for  admission  who  have  not  had  an  apprenticeship 
of  proper  length,  or  one  which  was  not  served  in  a  "  fair  " 
or  acceptable  shop.  It  may  not  be  said,  however,  that  an 
applicant  whose  term,  although  passed  in  a  union  shop,  had 
not  been  spent  exactly  in  accord  with  union  specifications  as 
to  kind  and  grade  of  work  would  be  excluded.  If  an 
applicant  has  served  in  a  union  or  "  fair  "  shop,  he  will  usu- 
ally be  admitted,  if  competent.  Indeed,  the  unions  assert 
that  if  union  rules  as  to  time,  place,  and  manner  of  training 
were  observed,  competency  would  be  assured. 

*  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  7. 

'  By-Laws,  1908,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  14. 
'Proceedings,  1908,  p.  118. 

*  Proceedings,  1902,  Sec.  4,  p.  12. 

'  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  XI,  Sees,  6,  7. 


CHAPTER   III 

ADMISSION    BY    COMPETENCY 

The  original  conception  of  a  trade  was  a  manual  occupa- 
tion into  which  a  workman  could  be  initiated  only  through 
an  extended  course  of  training.  Every  craftsman  was  con- 
sidered as  sharing  in  the  monopoly  and  as  holding  a  vested 
right  to  which  he  had  become  entitled  by  reason  of  the  time 
and  efifort  spent  in  acquiring  skill.  Competency  in  perform- 
ing the  work  was  required  in  order  to  gain  entrance  to  any 
trade. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  noted  the  absence  of 
any  apprenticeship  in  certain  trades  and  a  tendency  toward 
its  abandonment  in  many  others.  In  the  remaining  trades 
which  attempt  to  enforce  an  apprentice  rule  various  causes 
often  interfere  and  make  the  period  of  instruction  so  in- 
termittent and  irregular  that  the  apprentice  at  the  end  of 
the  prescribed  term  is  not  always  a  competent  mechanic. 
Members  of  trade  organizations,  moreover,  are  interested  in 
upholding  the  standards  of  proficiency  for  entrance.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  apprenticeship  requirement  is  supplemented 
by  the  rule  prescribing  competency  as  a  qualification  for 
admission.  The  terms  "practical  printer,"  "practical 
bricklayer,"  "journeyman  carpenter,"  "  molder,"  "cigar 
maker,"  "mechanic,"  and  so  forth,  are  used  to  signify  the 
competent  workman  who  alone  is  eligible  for  membership. 

Such  a  competent  workman  meant  originally  in  all  trades 
one  who  was  proficient  in  all  processes  of  the  trade.  After 
the  introduction  of  machinery  and  the  rise  of  the  factory 
system  of  production,  the  character  of  many  trade  processes 
and  the  subdivision  of  labor  changed  so  that  it  ceased  to  be 
necessary  for  a  mechanic  or  artisan  to  become  skilled  in  all 
branches  of  the  trade.  Specialized  occupations,  requiring 
little  training  for  their  mastery,  are  to  be  found  now  in 

6i 


62  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [5^^ 

practically  all  trades.  Examples  of  such  differentiation  or 
specialization  may  be  observed,  for  example,  in  boot  and 
shoe  making,  cigar  making,  the  making  of  clothing,  printing, 
carpentry,  slaughtering  and  meat  packing,  and  the  machin- 
ists' trades.^ 

The  admission  of  specialized  workmen  to  membership  in 
trade  unions  has  usually  encountered  strong  opposition 
among  unionists.  Thus  the  Knights  of  St.  Crispin  during 
their  existence  from  1869  to  1874  attempted  to  regulate  or 
hold  in  check  the  employment  of  "  green  "  hands  in  the  shoe 
industry.  Certain  local  unions  of  the  Cigar  Makers'  In- 
ternational Union  in  the  seventies  seceded  rather  than  abide 
by  the  rule  recognizing  the  right  of  bunch  makers  and  strip- 
pers to  be  admitted  to  membership.^  Opposition  likewise 
arose  to  the  admission  of  "  helpers  "  into  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,  and  prior  to  1877 
large  classes  of  unskilled  workmen  in  the  trade  were  inelig- 
ible to  membership.^ 

But  when  the  proportion  of  unskilled  workmen  in  any 

*  In  1904  the  president  of  the  International  Association  of  Machin- 
ists said:  "The  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  International 
Association  of  Machinists,  as  a  result  of  the  admission  of  special- 
ized workmen  to  its  membership,  is  shown  by  the  following  twenty- 
five  classes  of  machine-shop  workers:  (i)  General  hands,  (2)  erect- 
ing hands,  (3)  floor  hands,  (4)  vise  hands,  (s)  assemblers,  (6) 
adjusters  and  repairers  of  metal  working  parts  of  all  classes  of 
machinery,  (7)  men  operating  all  classes  of  lathes,  (8)  men  oper- 
ating all  classes  of  planers,  .  .  .  (10)  men  operating  all  classes  of 
shapers,  (11)  men  operating  all  classes  of  slotters,  (12)  men  oper- 
ating all  classes  of  boring  mills,  .  .  .  (15)  men  operating  Jones  & 
Lanison,  Gisholt  and  American  turret  lathes,  (16)  drill  press  hands, 
(17)  screw  machine  hands,  (18)  men  operating  all  machines  of  a 
similar  character  as  heretofore  mentioned,  (19)  tool  makers,  (20) 
die  sinkers,  (21)  jig  workers,  (22)  mold  makers  in  glass  factories 
or  elsewhere,  (23)  all  men  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  metal 
model  novelties  where  skilled  hand  labor  or  machines  are  used, 
(24)  all  surgical  instrument  makers,  (25)  all  metal  pattern  makers 
employed  in  machine  shop"  (Machinists'  Monthly  Journal,  Septem- 
ber, 1904,  p.  790).  For  other  instances  of  extreme  specialization  see 
Third  Annual  Report,  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, 
1871,  p.  232 ;  Cigar  Makers'  Journal,  March  10,  1878,  p.  i ;  Pope, 
The  Clothing  Industry  in  New  York,  pp.  70,  71 ;  Commons,  Trade 
Unionism  and  Labor  Problems,  p.  234. 

^  Cigar  Makers'  Journal,  April,  1878,  p.  i ;  November,  1879,  p.  i ; 
September,  1880,  p.  2. 

'  Proceedings,  1877,  pp.  50,  74,  75. 


517]  Admission  by  Competency  63 

trade  was  large,  the  practice  of  excluding  them  from  the 
trade  organization  became  injurious,  since  the  numerical 
and  strategic  strength  of  the  union  was  thereby  weakened. 
Consequently,  an  open-door  policy  was  ordinarily  adopted 
so  as  to  admit  any  workman,  even  though  he  was  competent 
only  in  a  branch  or  single  operation  of  a  trade.  Thus,  after 
1875  the  Cigar  Makers'  International  Union  refused  to  per- 
mit its  local  unions  to  reject  any  applicant  on  account  of  the 
system  of  "working"  or  because  he  was  engaged  at  only 
a  particular  branch  of  the  trade.^  Since  that  time  "  all  per- 
sons engaged  in  the  cigar  industry  have  been  eligible."^  In 
1877  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Work- 
ers, acting  on  the  recommendation  of  the  national  president, 
changed  its  rules  so  that  four  new  classes  of  semi-skilled 
workers,  namely,  knobblers,  turners,  boiler  plate  men,  and 
sheet-iron  shear  men,  could  be  admitted.^  Again,  in  1887 
the  president  proposed  that  "  all  branches  of  labor  directly 
interested  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  should  be 
made  eligible  to  membership."  In  1889  the  measure  was 
adopted,  and  has  since  continued  in  force,  admitting  all 
grades  of  workers  except  "  laborers,"  and  these  may  be  ad- 
mitted at  the  discretion  of  the  subordinate  lodge.*  The 
Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union  has  continuously  granted 
admission  "  to  any  worker  actively  employed  at  the  craft."^ 
Since  1902  the  International  Molders'  Union  has  claimed 
as  its  membership  jurisdiction  the  "trade  of  molding  in  all 
its  branches  and  subdivisions,  including  coremaking."^  Sim- 
ilarly, the  United  Association  of  Journeymen  Plumbers  has 
recognized  the  effect  of  specialization  within  the  plumbing 
trade,  and  has  provided  for  a  broader  membership  juris- 

*  Constitution,  1875,  Art.  I,  Sec.  2.  in  Cigar  Makers'  Journal,  April, 
1878.  p.  I ;  Cigar  Makers'  Journal.  May,  1881,  p.  i. 

^Constitution,  1881,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i;  Constitution,  1896  (21st  ed.), 
Sec.  64.  "  Chinese,  coolies  and  tenement-house  workers "  are  ex- 
cepted. 

°  Proceedings,  1877,  pp.  50,  74-77. 

*  Proceedings,  1887,  pp.  1953,  21 18;  Proceedings,  1889,  pp.  2686, 
2687,  2791;  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  I,  Sec.  i. 

"  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XX.  Sec.  i ;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  37. 
'  Constitution,  1902,  Art.  I,  Sec.  2. 


64  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [518 

diction.^  The  change  of  policy  toward  speciaHsts  made  in 
1903  by  the  International  Association  of  Machinists  is  typ- 
ical of  the  course  now  followed  in  all  trades  giving  employ- 
ment to  increasing  numbers  of  unskilled  workers.  Only 
workmen  "  performing  the  work  of  a  machinist "  had  pre- 
viously thereto  been  eligible,  but  since  that  time  "any  per- 
son working  in  a  machine  shop  and  engaged  in  any  manner 
with  the  making  and  repairing  of  machinery.  .  .  providing 
that  he  receives  the  minimum  rate  of  wages  of  his  class  in 
his  locality,"  may  be  admitted.- 

While  many  unions  have  thus  been  forced  or  led  to  re- 
strict the  scope  of  the  required  competency,  the  feeling 
against  incompetency  is  as  strong  as  ever.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  understand  this  hostility.  Incompetent  workers  threaten 
constantly  from  lack  of  employment  to  lower  the  minimum 
rate  of  wages ;  they  are  irregular  in  membership,  and  are 
frequent  claimants  of  beneficial  relief.  The  National  Typo- 
graphical Union  in  1865  condemned  the  "practice  of  ad- 
mitting persons  who  have  not  exhibited  sufficient  proof  of 
their  qualifications  as  printers."^  In  1884  the  president  of 
the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers 
remonstrated  against  the  action  of  some  subordinate  unions 
in  admitting  members  who  were  not  qualified.*  Since  1889 
the  International  Typographical  Union  has  insisted  that 
local  unions  make  "  a  rigid  examination  as  to  the  com- 
petency of  candidates."^    The  International  Holders'  Union 

^  The  president  of  the  association  in  1902  reported  as  follows : 
"  Our  trade  as  well  as  others  has  been  rapidly  branching  out  into 
hitherto  unknown  fields,  so  that  today  we  have  branching  from 
plumbers,  gas,  and  steam  fitters,  an  array  of  specialists,  such  as 
sprinkler  fitters,  ammonia  pipe  fitters,  fixture  hangers,  beer  pump 
men,  and  '  ship  plumbers,'  all  of  which  properly  belong  to  .  .  .  our 
trade  [plumbing],  while  not  all  of  the  last  mentioned  are  affiliated 
with  the  U[nited]  A[ssociation],  they  are  using  the  same  tools  and 
fittings  and  should  properly  affiliate"  (Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam 
Fitters'  Official  Journal,  October,  1902,  p.  25).  See  Constitution, 
1908,  Sec.  2 ;  see  also  Plumbers'  Journal,  June,  1908,  p.  8. 

*  Machinists'  Journal,  July,  1903,  pp.  586-590;  Subordinate  Lodge 
Constitution,  1903,  Art.  I,  Sec.  I. 

*  Proceedings,  1865,  p.  48. 

*  Proceedings,  1884,  p.  1363. 
'  Proceedings,  1889,  p.  48. 


519]  Admission  by  Competency  65 

has  consistently  held  to  the  view  that  its  members  should 
be  competent.  In  1893  the  president  thus  interpreted  its 
admission  policy :  "  No  union  has  the  right  under  any  cir- 
cumstances to  initiate  to  membership  any  molder  who  may 
have  learned  the  trade  outside  of  its  jurisdiction,  without 
first  making  close  and  searching  investigation  as  to  his 
mechanical  ability.  If  he  is  not  a  competent  mechanic  at 
the  branch  of  the  trade  which  he  represents,  we  do  not  care 
how  long  he  has  worked  at  molding,  do  not  admit  him  to 
membership."^  Again,  in  1899  he  recommended  that  more 
care  should  be  exercised  in  the  admission  of  members, 
"  so  that  the  union  card  would  be  recognized  as  the  badge 
of  the  competent  mechanic."-  The  Bricklayers'  and  Masons' 
International  Union  holds  that  "  no  applicant  for  member- 
ship shall  be  blackballed  except  for  incompetency."^ 

The  national  union  ordinarily  prescribes  competency  as  a 
qualification,  and  each  local  union  decides  whether  any  par- 
ticular applicant  is  qualified.  The  decision  in  each  case  is 
in  most  unions  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  national  union. 
In  view  of  the  increasing  differentiation  of  processes  within 
trades  and  of  the  practice  of  admitting  specialists  and  even, 
at  times,  persons  known  to  be  incompetent,  and  in  con- 
sideration of  the  local  determination  of  the  qualification  of 
applicants,  it  becomes  difficult  to  state  with  exactness  the 
meaning  of  competency  as  a  requirement  for  admission.  It 
is  relative  in  application,  and  subject  to  variation  according 

^  Iron  Molder's  Journal,  June,  1893,  p.  3. 

'  Proceedings,  1899,  p.  17.  In  1902  again  it  was  officially  an- 
nounced :  "  The  officers  of  local  unions  would  avoid  much  confusion 
if  they  would  carefully  investigate  the  eligibility  of  a  candidate  for 
membership  before  and  not  after  he  has  been  initiated.  The  num- 
ber of  cards  that  have  been  annulled  lately  indicate  gross  careless- 
ness on  the  part  of  investigating  committees"  (Iron  Holders' 
Journal,  September,  1902,  p.  808). 

^Constitution,  1897,  Art.  X,  Sec.  4;  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XI, 
Sec.  4.  In  time  of  strike,  or  in  a  trade  movement,  for  example  to 
unionize  a  shop,  unions  frequently  admit  workmen  known  to  be 
unquaHfied.  See  Semi-Annual  Report  of  Secretary,  Bricklayers 
and  Masons,  June  3,  1896,  p.  3 ;  Stone  Cutters'  Journal,  December, 
1892,  p.  3;  Proceedings,  Amalgamated  Window  Glass  Workers, 
1907,  p.  19;  Proceedings,  Brewery  Workmen,  1908,  p.  163;  Brauer- 
Zeitung,  July   13,   1907,  p.   i. 

5 


66  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [520 

to  the  trade  and  the  locality  under  consideration.^  Com- 
petency implies  manual  dexterity,  speed,  and  accuracy.  It 
may  on  the  whole,  perhaps,  be  best  defined  as  the  ability, 
mental  and  physical,  requisite  to  perform  a  quantity  of 
work  of  such  a  quality  as  will  give  satisfaction  to  the  em- 
ployer. 

Local  unions  determine  whether  or  not  an  applicant  sat- 
isfies the  competency  requirement  by  one  of  three  methods : 
(i)  by  ascertaining  whether  the  applicant  can  obtain  em- 
ployment in  a  locality  at  the  minimum  rate  of  wages;  (2) 
by  securing  proof  that  the  workman  has  had  a  definite  period 
of  training  or  of  experience  in  the  trade,  and  (3)  by  testing 
the  ability  or  skill  of  the  candidate  in  an  actual  performance 
of  work. 

The  great  mass  of  unions  make  wage-earning  capacity  the 
measure  or  test  of  competency.  Thus  the  United  Brother- 
hood of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  denies  admission  to  any 
workman  who  is  not  "  competent  to  command  a  general 
average  of  wages."^  The  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Deco- 
rators and  Paperhangers  provides  that  the  applicant  must 
be  "  competent  to  command  the  minimum  wages  established 
by  the  local  union  or  district  council"  where  application 
is  made.^    In  some  cases  actual  employment  at  the  trade  is 

^  Movements  have  been  started  in  recent  years  in  the  electrical 
and  plumbing  trades  to  require  a  certain  standard  of  workmanship 
as  a  condition  of  admission  which  should  be  uniform  for  all  local 
unions.  In  1903  the  Boston  local  union  of  the  International  Brother- 
hood of  Electrical  Workers  submitted  a  proposition  that  the 
brotherhood  create  a  board  which  should  provide  a  standard  trade 
examination  for  all  applicants  (The  Electrical  Worker,  June,  1894, 
pp.    IIO-IIl). 

In  1904  the  United  Association  of  Journeymen  Plumbers,  in  ses- 
sion at  Birmingham,  Ala.,  acting  on  a  recommendation  of  the 
national  president,  made  provision  for  a  national  examination  com- 
mittee, which  should  devise  "  a  proper  theoretical  and  practical 
examination  suitable  to  the  average  conditions  of  the  different 
localities  ...  to  be  accepted  by  .  .  .  local  unions  as  standard " 
(Proceedings,  1904,  p.  29).  See  Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters' 
Official  Journal,  January,  1905,  p.  16.  The  plan  was  not  executed. 
But  again  in  1908  the  proposal  for  a  national  committee  was  renewed 
(Proceedings,  1908,  p.  76). 

"Constitution,  1881,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  i. 

'Constitution,  1898,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  i;  Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  19. 


52 1]  Admission  by  Competency  6y 

required  as  proof  of  ability  to  earn  standard  wages.  Eligi- 
bility for  admission  to  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union 
is  thus  conditional  upon  the  worker's  being  actively  em- 
ployed at  the  craft.^  The  United  Garment  Workers  also 
require  that  the  candidate  "  must  be  employed  in  the  manu- 
facture of  garments  and  working  at  the  trade."-  The  In- 
ternational Union  of  Steam  Engineers  provides  that  each 
local  union  may  exercise  its  own  discretion  as  to  admitting 
a  candidate  who  is  out  of  employment.^ 

Different  unions  and  even  local  unions  within  the  same 
trade,  however,  employ  different  means  for  determining  the 
competency  of  candidates.  In  addition  to  wage-earning 
capacity,  a  fixed  term  of  training  or  employment  is  accepted 
as  a  qualification  of  admission.*  In  certain  trades,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  the  fact  of  having  served  an  apprentice- 
ship under  union  conditions  at  once  secures  full  membership 
for  an  apprentice.'  The  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paper- 
hangers  moreover  apply  not  only  wage-earning  ability  as  a 
test,  but  also  provide  that  an  applicant  may  not  be  admitted 
who  is  not  qualified  by  having  worked  three  years  at  the 
trade.^  The  Lace  Operatives'  Amalgamated  Society  de- 
scribes a  competent  workman  as  "  one  who  has  served  three 
years  at  a  lace  machine."'''  In  thus  endeavoring  to  maintain 
som.e  standard  of  competency  or  trade  skill  as  a  condition  of 
membership,  local  unions  in  practically  all  trades  have  to  de- 

^  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1908,  Sec.  37. 

^Constitution,  1891,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  i;  Constitution,  1903,  Art.  VI, 
Sec.  I. 

'  Constitution,  1891,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution,  1903,  Art.  VI, 
Sec.  I. 

*  Constitution,  1898,  Art.  XXI,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1906,  Art. 
XIX,  Sec.  2. 

^The  International  Association  of  Machinists  makes  provision  for 
the  use  of  all  three  tests :  "  Any  machinist  serving  an  apprenticeship 
of  four  years  at  the  trade  ...  or  who  has  v^^orked  at  the  trade  four 
years  in  any  of  its  branches  or  subdivisions,  or  is  competent  to  com- 
mand the  minimum  rate  of  wages  paid  may  be  admitted  to  member- 
ship in  any  local  union.  Such  men  may  be  admitted  upon  .  .  . 
passing  the  examination  committee"  (Subordinate  Lodge  Constitu- 
tion, 1909,  Art.  I,  Sec.  i). 

*  See  above,  p.  51. 

*  Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  19. 


68  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [522 

termine  whether  the  workman  who  is  a  candidate  for  en- 
trance can  secure  employment  at  the  prevailing  rate  of 
wages,  or  whether  he  has  served  the  term  of  training  pre- 
scribed as  necessary  to  acquire  skill. 

Finally,  in  certain  so-called  skilled  trades  it  is  the  practice 
of  some  local  unions  to  have  each  applicant  demonstrate  his 
competency  by  an  actual  performance  of  work.  The  test 
or  examination  in  some  cases  is  required  by  a  regulation 
of  the  national  union,  but  each  local  union  has  full  power 
to  prescribe  the  kind  of  test  it  chooses.  The  Typograph- 
ical Union  early  insisted  that  only  "  practical  printers " 
should  be  admitted.  Since  1889  the  local  unions  have  been 
directed  to  make  a  "  rigid  examination  as  to  the  competency 
of  candidates."^  The  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Interna- 
tional Union  in  1897  adopted  a  rule  that  a  candidate  "  shall, 
if  complaint  is  made  as  to  his  ability,  be  compelled  to  pass 
a  satisfactory  examination  by  a  committee  of  the  local  union 
under  whose  jurisdiction  he  is  working."-  The  Interna- 
tional Association  of  Steam  Fitters  prescribes  that  each 
local  branch  "  shall  have  a  trade  test  or  examining  board  to 
examine  into  the  qualification  of  candidates."^  The  United 
Association  of  Journeyman  Plumbers  in  1906  made  a  sim- 
ilar stipulation.*  The  Cement  Workers'  Brotherhood  pro- 
vides that  either  an  "  oral  or  written  examination  "  or  a 
"  practical  test "  shall  be  given. ^  The  examination  of  can- 
didates with  a  view  to  maintaining  a  standard  of  proficiency 
among  unionists  thus  lies  in  all  cases  in  the  hands  of  the 
local  union.  Consequently,  there  may  be  in  different  lo- 
calities considerable  variation  within  a  particular  trade  in 
the  strictness  of  tests  and  in  the  standard  of  workmanship 
demanded  for  admission. 

The  examinations  as  conducted  in  some  instances  by  local 
unions  in  the  building  trades  are  designed  to  prove  the  can- 

^  Proceedings,  1889,  p.  58. 
^  Proceedings,  1897,  p.  71. 

*  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  XVI ;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  2^. 

*  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  49. 
^Constitution,  1909,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  5. 


523]  Admission  by  Competency  69 

didate's  general  knowledge  and  practical  ability  in  perform- 
ing trade  processes.  The  local  unions  of  bricklayers  and 
masons  in  a  few  cities  require,  besides  satisfactory  an- 
swers to  a  set  of  questions,  the  actual  construction  of  a  piece 
of  masonry,  either  on  a  contract  job  or  in  some  place  pre- 
scribed by  the  union.  Questions  are  asked  concerning  the 
time,  place,  and  kind  of  previous  employment  and  the  pre- 
vious relations  of  the  candidate  to  the  union.  Certain  local 
unions  of  structural  iron  workers  require  the  applicant  to 
illustrate  important  points  of  workmanship  by  assembling 
blocks  and  materials  and  by  using  a  miniature  derrick. 
Theoretical  and  practical  examinations  are  general  among 
the  unions  of  the  International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical 
Workers.  Some  unions  give  a  written  as  well  as  a  practical 
test.  Strong  unions  in  the  large  cities  usually  set  aside  a 
room  in  which  are  placed  the  necessary  apparatus  and  appli- 
ances for  the  experimental  work.  The  time  of  a  test  varies 
from  one  to  three  hours.^  The  Wood,  Wire  and  Metal 
Lathers'  unions  accept  as  a  competent  workman  one  who 
is  able  to  drive  at  least  1000  or  1200  laths  in  eight  hours, 
which  is  about  half  the  number  which  the  fastest  workman 
could  drive.  Sheet  Metal  Workers'  local  unions  in  New 
York  City  give  a  rigid  examination  by  closely  questioning 
the  workman  and  by  trying  him  out  "  on  a  permit "  in  actual 
shop  work.^  The  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers  in 
Chicago  require  the  candidate  to  work  in  three  different 
shops,  and  the  foreman  of  each  shop  reports  to  the  union 
whether  the  man  is  a  practical  baker.  This  method  is  the 
one  most  frequently  used.  The  applicant  usually  has  em- 
ployment, or  is  given  a  "  permit "  to  work  with  unionists 


^  The  secretary  of  the  International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical 
Workers,  in  June,  1910,  estimated  that  ten  per  cent,  of  appHcants 
for  admission  into  the  local  unions  failed  to  pass  the  examination. 
The  secretary  of  Local  Union  No.  34  of  Chicago  at  the  same  time 
estimated  that  fifty  per  cent,  of  its  applicants  were  unable  to  pass  the 
examination.  The  writer  is  indebted  to  the  national  officers  for  the 
facts  in  the  above  paragraph  in  the  case  of  each  union. 

'  The  secretary  of  the  Sheet  Metal  Workers'  International  Alliance 
stated  that  a  large  proportion  of  applicants  were  unable  to  gain  ad- 
mission into  the  New  York  unions. 


yo  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [5^4 

who  may  observe  his  work.  Statements  or  vouchers  from 
the  members  or  from  a  committee  thereof  are  usually  ac- 
cepted in  proof  of  workmanship. 

Investigations  and  tests  are  often  perfunctory  and  do  not 
measure  accurately  the  skill  of  the  applicant.  The  purpose 
of  a  test  is  to  maintain  a  certain  standard  of  ability  for  en- 
trance into  a  trade  and  to  prevent  a  reduction  of  established 
wages.  In  dealing  with  incompetent  workmen  who  apply 
for  admission,  local  unions  often  pursue  a  policy  of  expe- 
diency, and  the  examination  required  is  not  sufficiently  rigid 
to  exclude  incompetent  persons  from  the  trade.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  rate  of  wages  is  endangered  whether  the  incom- 
petent are  admitted  or  not,  since  they  will  most  likely  ac- 
cept lower  wages  as  either  members  or  non-members.  The 
consideration  that  the  workman  who  does  not  at  the  time  of 
application  conform  to  the  standard  of  workmanship  may, 
if  allowed  to  become  a  member,  soon  acquire  competency, 
also  inclines  a  union  to  modify  the  strictness  of  the  com- 
petency requirement.  At  times,  however,  it  has  been 
charged  against  certain  local  unions  that  they  use  the  power 
of  examination  to  build  a  wall  around  their  membership 
and  to  exclude  even  competent  workmen  from  the  trade.^ 

In  a  small  number  of  trades  a  municipal,  state,  or  national 

^The  following  examples  may  be  cited  as  illustrating  the  com- 
paratively  infrequent   occurrence   of   "closed"   unions: — 

"  Some  of  the  locals  are  looking  out  for  themselves  in  too  narrow 
a  sense.  Dazzled  by  the  fact  that  they  are  getting  higher  wages  than 
some  other  local,  whose  workmen  may  be  quite  as  efficient  as  their 
own,  they  seek  to  exclude  such  members  by  forming  a  trust,  putting 
on  a  prohibitory  fee,  and  conducting  a  partisan,  partial  and  unfair 
examination"  (The  Electrical  Worker,  April,  1903,  pp.  iio-iii). 

"  In  some  towns  when  a  man  comes  in  .  .  .  the  local  unions  put 
up  an  examination  and  make  it  so  severe  that  no  man  on  earth  could 
pass  it.  I  believe  that  the  only  examining  boards  that  should  be 
recognized  by  our  association  are  the  ones  that  are  recognized  by  the 
state  or  municipality  and  which  a  man  must  pass  before  going  to 
work"  (Proceedings,  Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters,  1904,  pp. 
67-68). 

"  It  is  a  frequent  occurrence  that  either  for  selfish  purposes  or  .  .  . 
when  a  local  union  is  over-zealous  in  complying  with  the  rules 
established,  the  examination  of  men  who  have  actually  been  working 
in  a  brewery  for  some  time  is  made  so  hard  that  they  cannot  pass 
and  [they]  are  rejected  as  members"  (Brauer-Zeitung,  July  11, 
1908,  p.  i). 


525]  Admission  by  Competency  71 

government  license  may  be  accepted  by  a  local  union  in  lieu 
of  an  examination  as  proof  of  competency.  The  plumbers' 
unions  in  some  cities  make  use  of  the  examination  provided 
by  the  city  or  state  examining  board.^  The  Steam  Engi- 
neers' International  Union  requires  as  a  condition  of  admis- 
sion the  possession  of  a  license  where  such  may  be  obtained 
under  law.^  The  Journeymen  Barbers  advocate  the  enact- 
ment of  barbers'  license  legislation  on  sanitary  grounds  and 
with  a  view  to  excluding  unqualified  workmen  from  the 
trade;  a  license  is  not,  however,  required  to  gain  admission.^ 
The  National  Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  Association  is 
composed  solely  of  licensed  workmen.  Subordinate  asso- 
ciations usually  accept  the  government  license  as  the  requi- 
site proof  of  competency.  Cases  have  occurred,  however, 
in  which  licensed  workmen  were  not  admitted  because  of  in- 
competency, and  their  license  has  been  revoked  by  the  pro- 
test of  the  association.* 

So  far,  the  admission  of  new  applicants  alone  has  been 
considered.  Local  authority,  subject  in  many  unions  to  re- 
vision by  national  officers,  determines  according  to  circum- 
stances the  standard  to  which  each  applicant  must  conform 
before  he  may  be  admitted.  When,  however,  a  member  of 
one  union  with  a  transfer  card  applies  for  membership  in 
another  local  union,  he  may  not  be  subjected  to  the  same 
requirements  as  are  employed  in  the  case  of  a  new  appli- 
cant. National  organization  binds  the  local  unions,  compell- 
ing each  to  admit  on  favorable  terms  the  members  of  an- 
other union  when  in  good  standing.  A  local  union  may  at 
times  refuse  to  accept  a  transferred  member  on  account  of 
scarcity  of  employment  or  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  per- 
sonal disqualification.^     But  this  form  of  exclusion  is  con- 


*  Proceedings,  1904,  p.  68. 
'Constitution,  1903,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  i. 

'Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  68;  Barbers'  Journal,  February,  1906,  p. 
14;  September,  1906,  p.  197. 

*  Subordinate  Association  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  i ;  Pro- 
ceedings, 1904,  pp.  34-41. 

°  See  above,  p.  26;  below,  p.  128. 


"J 2  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [526 

trary  to  the  spirit  of  national  unity,  and  is  condemned  by 
the  national  unions.^ 

Variation  in  grades  of  workmanship  and  in  rates  of 
wages  as  between  localities  is  recognized  in  some  trades  to 
such  an  extent,  however,  as  to  permit  a  modification  of  the 
rule  of  interunion  comity  in  the  acceptance  of  members. 
It  is  clearly  desirable  that  a  local  union  should  not  be  re- 
quired to  accept  a  transferred  member  who  is  not  com- 
petent as  measured  by  its  standard.  The  Bricklayers'  and 
Masons'  International  Union  first  adopted  an  expedient  by 
which  a  member  with  a  transfer  card  who  was  judged  in- 
competent in  another  locality  could  be  excluded,  and  yet  the 
rule  requiring  the  interchange  of  union  cards  be  nominally 
upheld.  A  case  was  brought  on  appeal  to  the  union  in  1888 
in  which  one  local  union  had  refused  to  accept  a  transfer 
card  held  by  a  workman  whom  the  local  union  considered 
incompetent.  It  was  then  held  that  the  card  must  be  ac- 
cepted, but  that  a  member  so  received  who  was  not  a  quali- 
fied bricklayer  or  mason  could  at  once  be  expelled.^  In 
1897  the  union  empowered  the  local  unions  to  examine  any 
applicant  for  membership  whose  ability  as  a  workman  might 
be  questioned.^  Since  that  time  the  policy  has  been  main- 
tained of  permitting  any  union  to  exclude  a  transferred 
member  from  another  union,  when  after  being  tested  he  is 
considered  incompetent.* 


*  In  a  case  of  refusal  of  a  transfer  card  in  the  International 
Brotherhood  of  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders  the  national 
secretary  made  the  following  statement:  "If  such  a  principle  as  this 
is  upheld  by  this  order,  then  the  sooner  the  order  is  disbanded  the 
better,  because  it  is  the  ruination  of  the  principle  of  unity,  and  unity 
is  what  all  organized  labor  stands  on.  If  this  principle  of  repu- 
diating good  cards  is  upheld,  then  what  is  the  use  of  organizing? 
It  will  appeal  to  any  man  that  there  is  no  use"  (Boiler  Makers' 
Journal,  March  i,  1906,  p.  152). 

'Proceedings,  1888,  p.  18. 
^  Proceedings,  1897,  p.  71. 

*  Frequent  decisions  have  been  made  upholding  the  rule.  In  1903 
a  case  of  refusal  of  travelling  card  by  a  local  union  was  appealed. 
The  judiciary  board  of  the  union  held  that  the  card  should  have  been 
accepted,  and  that  if  then  there  was  "  positive  evidence  of  his  incom- 
petency it  would  have  been  much  more  in  keeping  with  the  law  to 
have  revoked  his  membership.    This  stand  could  have  been  taken  by 


527]  Admission  by  Competency  73 

Local  unions  of  the  United  Association  of  Journeymen 
Plumbers  exercise  discretion  as  to  admitting  workmen  with 
cards.  The  national  association  denies  to  the  local  union 
the  power  to  examine  a  transferred  member  "  unless  the 
local  has  just  proof  that  the  clearance  card  was  secured 
through  misrepresentation,  illegally  or  otherwise."^  Under 
cover  of  this  exception  the  practice  prevails  of  excluding 
any  transfer  applicant  when  local  conditions  justify  such 
refusal.^  The  Bridge  and  Structural  Iron  Workers'  Inter- 
national Association  provides  that  the  reexamination  of  a 
member  with  a  card  is  optional  with  the  local  union."  The 
Steam  Engineers  require  conformity  with  local  require- 
ments as  to  competency  and  license  laws.*  The  Steam  Fit- 
ters^ and  the  Electrical  Workers®  require  a  member  of  less 
than  three  years'  standing,  desiring  to  transfer  from  one 
local  union  to  another,  to  pass  the  examining  board  of  the 
local  union  to  which  application  is  made,  even  though  an 
examination  was  passed  in  the  local  union  of  which  he  was 
formerly  a  member.  The  development  of  this  practice  of 
modifying  the  rule  of  exchanging  cards  for  the  purpose  of 
m.aintaining  local  standards  of  workmanship  emphasizes  the 
absence  of  any  standard  of  skill. 

trying  him  on  the  work  only.  Failure  on  your  part  to  accept  his  card 
would  subject  your  union  to  discipline"  (President's  Report,  1901, 
p.  i8s). 

*  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  95. 

*  Proceedings,  1908,  p.  y2. 

^  Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  84. 

*  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1906,  Sec.  34. 
•Constitution,  1901,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  4. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ADMISSION  OF  WOMEN 

The  entrance  of  women  into  modern  industrial  life  is 
traceable  directly  to  their  activities  in  the  family.  After  the 
introduction  of  machinery  and  the  rise  of  the  factory  sys- 
tem, certain  processes,  such  as  spinning  and  sewing,  which 
had  been  carried  on  by  women  at  home,  were  assumed  by 
them  in  the  factory.  Moreover,  since  machinery  frequently 
reduced  the  amount  of  physical  strength  or  skill  required  in 
specific  processes,  the  substitution  of  women  for  men  was 
made  possible  in  new  lines  of  work.  The  low  rate  of  wages 
at  which  women  might  be  employed  tended  to  render  profit- 
able their  increasing  employment.^ 

The  increasing  number  of  women  in  certain  trades  has 
been  a  subject  of  grave  concern  to  the  organized  workmen 
in  those  trades.  This  anxiety  has  been  due  to  the  low  rate 
of  remuneration  of  the  women  and  the  threatened  displace- 
ment of  the  men.  The  attempts  at  the  solution  of  this 
problem  may  be  conveniently  considered  under  three 
periods:  (i)  1830  to  i860;  (2)  i860  to  1880,  and  (3)  since 
1880. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  women  formed  the  bulk 
of  the  factory  operatives  of  the  expanding  manufactures  of 

^  Exact  comparisons  between  the  extent  of  the  employment  of 
women  in  gainful  occupations  today  and  during  the  first  half  of  the 
last  century  are  impossible,  owing  to  the  fragmentary  data  of  the 
early  period.  The  census  of  manufactures  which  was  taken  in  1850 
showed  235,922  women  and  731,317  men  employed  in  industries  in 
establishments  whose  annual  product  was  valued  at  $500.  The  last 
census  (1905)  does  not  furnish  statistics  exactly  comparable  with 
the  earlier  figures.  But  of  the  6^157,571  persons  employed  in  manu- 
factures in  1905,  1,194,083  were  women.  The  figures  indicate  that 
fewer  women  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  men  are  now  em- 
ployed; yet  the  number  of  women  employed  has  increased  more  than 
five  fold  (U.  S.  Census,  1850,  "  Digest  of  Statistics  of  Manufac- 
turei,"  p.  143;  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905,  Pt.  I,  p.  xxxvi). 

74 


529]  Admission  of  Women  75 

New  England.'  The  number  of  occupations  into  which 
women  were  entering  at  this  time  appears  also  to  have  been 
increasing."  Female  laborers  soon  participated  in  the  new 
labor  movement  of  the  time.^  During  the  thirties  female 
cotton-mill  operatives,  tailoresses,  seamstresses,  umbrella 
sewers,  shoebinders,  and  bookbinders  in  the  large  towns  and 
cities  entered  vigorously  into  short-lived  societies  and  occa- 
sionally participated  in  prolonged  strikes.* 

The  attitude  of  men  trade  unionists  toward  the  female 
workers  varied  from  trade  to  trade  largely  according  to  the 
extent  to  which  women  were  established  in  the  particular 
trades.  When  women  were  beginning  to  enter  a  trade  in 
competition  with  men,  they  met  the  open  hostility  of  the 
men,  but  when  women  were  already  em.ployed  in  any  trade, 
the  men  promoted  organization  among  them  in  order  to  pre- 
vent a  lowering  of  wage  rates.  Thus  as  early  as  1819  the 
journeymen  tailors  of  New  York  went  on  strike  to  prevent 
the  employment  of  women;  and  again,  in  1836  the  New 
York  tailors'  society  struck  against  an  employer  "  because 
he  employed  a  female."^  In  the  printing  trade  at  this  time 
women  were  principally  engaged  at  bookbinding,  but  in 
some  places  they  were  also  being  introduced  as  compositors. 
In  Boston  in  1835  the  men  "most  ungallantly  turned  out  for 
the  purpose  of  driving  the  girls  from  the  business  of  setting 
types."''     At  this  time  the   Philadelphia  and  Washington 

^  Martineau,  Society  in  America  (1837),  Vol.  II,  pp.  227,  243;  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  148,  149,  150;  Thirty-third  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of 
Labor,  Massachusetts,  1902.  pp.  136-137. 

^  Miss  Edith  Abbott,  in  Women  in  Industry  (p.  66),  states  that 
"  from  1820  to  1840  it  appears  that,  instead  of  seven,  there  were  more 
than  one  hundred  industrial  occupations  open  to  women." 

*The  tailoresses  of  New  York  in  1825  and  the  factory  girls  of  cer- 
tain towns  in  New  England  in  1828  and  1829  formed  protective 
organizations  and  engaged  in  strikes  in  their  own  behalf  (Andrews 
and  Bliss,  "  History  of  Women  in  Trade  Unions,"  S.  Doc.  No.  645, 
6ist   Cong.,  2d  sess..  pp.  2t,  22.  23). 

*  Andrews  and  Bliss,  pp.  36,  40,  41,  44,  45.  In  1834  a  society  of 
female  shoe-binders  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  successfully  maintained  prices 
for  work,  and  sent  delegates  to  the  Central  Trades'  Union  of  Boston 
(The  Man,  March  12,  1834,  p.  3.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Sum- 
ner, Vol.  VI,  p.  90). 

'  Andrews  and  Bliss,  p.  46. 

'Andrews  and  Bliss,  p.  46. 


y6  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [53^ 

societies  of  printers  expressed  clearly  their  fear  and  dislike 
of  a  proposed  employment  of  women  compositors  in  each 
of  these  cities.^  In  the  shoe  trade  and  in  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  goods  women  were  firmly  entrenched  in  certain 
departments  of  the  work,  and  apparently  competed  but 
slightly  with  men.  In  each  of  these  trades  the  men  union- 
ists were  accordingly  found  encouraging  the  organization  of 
the  female  workers.^ 

Most  representative  of  the  prevailing  trades-union  opin- 
ion of  the  period  was  probably  the  attitude  of  the  National 
Trades'  Union.  The  members  of  the  New  York  session 
of  1835  deplored  the  increase  in  the  employment  of  women 
at  less  than  a  "  fair  remuneration,"  and  recommended  to 
laboring  men  "  throughout  the  United  States  to  oppose  by 
all  honest  means  the  multiplying  of  all  descriptions  of  labor 
for  females,  inasmuch  as  the  competition  it  creates  with  the 
males  tends  inevitably  to  impoverish  both."^  In  1836,  at 
the  third  annual  session,  a  special  committee  on  female 
labor  commented  on  "  the  injurious  tendencies  the  intro- 
duction of  the  female  system  has  upon  the  male  operatives," 
and  reported  that  twenty-four  of  the  fifty-eight  societies 
composing  the  Philadelphia  federation  of  labor  were  "  se- 
riously affected  by  female  labor  to  the  impoverishing  of 
whole  families,  and  benefit  of  none  but  the  employers." 
The  convention  recognized  organization  as  the  only  "  hope 
of  redress,"  and  suggested  that  either  mixed  or  separate 
female  societies  should  be  organized.* 

^Printers'  Circular,  August,  1867,  pp.  267,  268;   December,  i86g, 

P-  365- 

^A  national  convention  of  journeymen  cordwainers  in  New  York 
in  March,  1836,  recommended  to  the  different  societies  therein  repre- 
sented "  the  propriety  of  encouraging  the  formation  of  societies  of 
the  females  working  at  boot  and  shoe  binding  and  cording  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  their  wages"  (National  Laborer,  April  2, 
1836.  Cited  in  Andrews  and  Bliss,  p.  46).  See  also  Proceedings  of 
National  Trades'  Union  Convention,  1836.  Reprinted  in  Commons 
and  Sumner,  Vol.  VI,  p.  288. 

^National  Trades'  Union  (New  York),  October  10,  1835.  Re- 
printed in  Commons  and  Sumner,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  250.  251,  257,  258. 

*A  special  resolution  urged  the  formation  of  societies  among 
females  in  order  "  to  prevent  the  ruinous  competition  which  now 


53 1 ]  Admission  of  Women  TJ 

At  intervals  during  the  forties  women  wage-earners  did 
undertake  separate  action,  engage  in  strikes,  and  occasion- 
ally form  trade  organizations.^  Yet  the  admission  of 
\vomen  into  the  men's  unions  must  have  been  infrequent. 
The  local  typographical  societies  continued  to  maintain  a 
hostile  attitude  toward  female  printers."  In  1854  the  Na- 
tional Typographical  Union  voted  down  a  resolution  "  dis- 
countenancing the  employment  of  females,"  but  took  the 
position  that  it  should  not  "  encourage  by  its  acts  the  em- 
ployment of  females  as  compositors.''^  In  1856  the  Boston 
union  of  printers  considered  a  resolution  threatening  to  dis- 
charge any  member  found  "  working  in  any  office  that  em- 
ploys female  compositors."*  The  period  from  1830  to  i860 
is  therefore  characterized  by  the  formation  of  sporadic 
organizations  and  by  intermittent  movements  in  the  interest 
of  labor  in  which  the  participation  of  w^omen  was  repre- 
sented in  some  cases  by  separate  action  on  their  part,  in 
others  by  reluctant  cooperation  on  the  part  of  working  men 
in  the  plan  of  organizing  women. 

Industrial  expansion  continued,  however,  to  extend  the 
opportunities  for  the  employment  of  women.  The  census 
of  i860  showed  that  about  one  quarter  of  the  factory  em- 
ployees of  the  country  w'ere  women,  while  in  1870  about  the 
same  proportion  was  found.^  The  interest  in  labor  organ- 
ization which  developed  after  the  Civil  War  accordingly 
led  to  renewed  attention  being  paid  to  the  position  of  women 
in  industry.^     The  National  Labor  Union  Congress  at  its 

exists  by  the  labor  of  females  being  brought  into  competition  with 
that  of  males"  (National  Laborer,  November  12,  1836,  pp.  133,  134. 
Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Sumner,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  279,  281,  283,  2S8). 

'Andrews  and  BHss,  pp.  58-61. 

'  Barnett.  pp.  311,  312. 

'  Proceedings,  1854,  pp.  12,  27,  28. 

*  Andrews  and  Bliss,  p.  57. 

"Eighth  Census,  i860.  Manufactures,  p.  729;  Ninth  Census,  1870, 
Industr>'  and  Wealth  (Manufactures),  pp.  392.  393. 

"  The  International  Industrial  Assembly,  which  held  its  only  con- 
vention in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1864,  commended  the  action  of  certain 
local  trade  organizations  in  forming  unions  among  women  in  the 
clothing  trade,  and  recommended  the  prosecution  of  that  work  in 
other  cities  (Fincher's  Trades'  Review,  October  15,  1864.  Reprinted 
in  Documentary  History  of  American  Industrial  Society,  Vol.  IX, 


78  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [532 

first  session  in  Baltimore  in  1866,  and  again  at  Chicago  in 
1867,  set  forth  the  attitude  of  the  laboring  class,  which  it 
held  had  been  misrepresented,  upon  the  subject  of  female 
labor.  Workingmen  were  excused  for  objecting  to  the  in- 
troduction of  female  labor  "  as  a  means  to  depreciate  the 
value  of  their  own,"  and  the  principle  of  equal  pay  to  men 
and  women  for  the  same  service  was  endorsed.  As  a 
method  of  reforming  "  the  iniquitous  system  "  of  competi- 
tion, the  congress  agreed  upon  the  necessity  of  forming 
labor  associations  of  women. ^ 

In  order  to  judge  the  extent  of  the  participation  of 
women  in  the  trade  movements  of  this  period,  it  is  necessary 
to  understand  the  policy  of  national  organizations  of  work- 
men and  the  practice  of  local  bodies  within  such  organiza- 
tions. The  organized  trades  which  at  this  time  included 
considerable  proportions  of  women  were  printing,  cigar 
making,  sewing,  garment  making,  boot  and  shoe  making. 
The  policy  of  the  unions  in  these  trades  will  be  briefly  re- 
viewed. 

In  the  late  sixties  the  increasing  number  of  women  who 
were  being  employed,  mainly  in  city  newspaper  offices,  as 
compositors  and  distributers  of  type,  their  low  wages,  and 
the  displacement  of  men  by  women  "  strike-breakers,"  again 
brought  the  problem  of  female  labor  forcibly  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Printers.  None  of  the  local  unions  had 
yet  admitted  women  to  membership.  At  the  session  of  the 
national  union  in  1867  a  committee,  which  was  authorized 
to  "  report  a  plan  to  regulate  and  control  female  compos- 
edited  by  Commons  and  Andrews,  p.  123).  At  this  time  working 
women  in  the  cigar  making,  clothing,  sewing,  textile,  and  printing 
trades  were  to  some  extent  engaged  in  separate  organized  activities 
in  their  own  behalf  (Andrews  and  BHss,  pp.  91-104). 

^  Report  of  Committee  on  Address  to  National  Labor  Congress. 
Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  156,  157.  These 
female  labor  organizations  were  represented  by  women  delegates  in 
the  second  session  of  the  National  Labor  Union  in  1868.  Miss  Kate 
MuUaney,  chief  directress  of  the  Collar  Laundry  Working  Women's 
Association  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  was  commended  "  for  her  indefatigable 
exertions  in  the  interests  of  working  women."  Female  delegates 
attended  the  session  again  in  1869  and  in  1870  (Commons  and 
Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  195,  227,  228,  257,  258). 


533]  Admission  of  Women  79 

itors,  so  that  ladies  in  the  business  may  benefit  themselves 
and  inflict  as  little  injury  as  possible  upon  printers,"  de- 
clared ihat  lack  of  organization  was  responsible  for  the  low 
wages  paid  to  women,  and  recommended  that  the  local 
unions  should  either  admit  women  or  organize  them  into 
separate  subordinate  unions.  The  national  union,  however, 
took  the  position  that  each  local  union  should  be  left  free  to 
decide  its  policy  for  itself.^  The  Chicago  local  union  in 
1869  and  the  Kalamazoo,  Detroit,  and  Philadelphia  local 
unions  in  1870  admitted  their  first  women  members."  The 
International  Union  in  1869  amended  its  constitution  so 
that  women's  unions  might  be  chartered  with  the  consent 
of  the  union  of  male  printers  in  any  locality.  In  1871  the 
local  unions  were  urged  to  unionize  women  printers  either 
by  the  method  of  separate  organization  or  by  admission.^ 
A  women's  union  which  had  been  chartered  in  New  York  in 
1869  was  not  prosperous,  and  the  men's  union  in  that  city 
was  imperiled  on  account  of  the  failure  of  the  women  to 
maintain  the  union  scale  of  wages.  The  men  endeavored 
several  times  to  have  the  charter  of  the  women's  union 
revoked  before  it  was  finally  surrendered  in  1878.  Earlier 
in  the  seventies  the  International  Union  decided  to  issue  no 
more  charters  to  women's  unions.  This  decision  left  the 
admission  of  women  into  men's  unions  the  only  method  of 
controlling  female  printers,  and  in  many  cases  women  were 
admitted  to  membership  in  the  local  unions.  The  Interna- 
tional Union  favored  the  policy  of  admission  and  urged 
local  unions  to  admit  women,  yet  for  several  years  each 
local  union  remained  free  to  decide  for  itself  whether 
women  might  become  members.* 

The  second  organized  trade  in  which  women  had  been 
employed  to  a  considerable  extent  before  i860  was  cigar 
making.  During  the  early  half  of  the  century  women  had 
engaged  in  cigar  making,  first  in  their  homes  and  then  in 

*  Proceedings,  1867,  pp.  30,  52,  57. 

*  Printers'  Circular,  April,  1870,  pp.  66,  151. 

■  Proceedings,  1869,  pp.  8,  23,  39,  41 ;  Proceedings,  1871,  pp.  33,  61. 
*Barnett,  pp.  314,  315. 


So  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [534 

factories.  But  it  is  not  possible  to  ascertain  their  relation 
at  this  time  to  the  unions  in  the  trade.  It  seems  probable, 
however,  that  the  women  had  no  part  in  the  local  unions  of 
cigar  makers  which  united  in  1864  to  form  a  national  organ- 
ization. In  that  same  year,  however,  a  Ladies'  Cigar 
Makers'  Union  was  formed  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island.^ 

The  census  of  i860  showed  that  only  731  women  as 
against  7266  men  were  employed  in  cigar  making.  Before 
the  close  of  the  ensuing  decade  the  proportion  of  women  in 
the  trade  greatly  increased.  In  1863  girls  and  women  are 
reported  as  being  employed  in  considerable  numbers  in  Phil- 
adelphia and  New  York.  Machines  or  molds,  which  at  this 
time  had  been  introduced  into  the  trade,  made  possible  the 
increased  employment  of  women.  The  Cigar  Makers'  In- 
ternational Union  at  its  second  convention  in  1865  prescribed 
that  only  males  should  be  eligible  for  membership.-  The 
question  of  the  right  of  a  woman  to  work  in  a  union  shop 
was  brought  before  the  union  in  1866  and  debated  at  length, 
but  the  session  reached  no  decision.^  Women  are  reported 
to  have  been  used  to  break  a  strike  of  cigar  makers  in  New 
York  in  1869.  In  Cincinnati  in  1870  the  places  of  men, 
who  had  struck  against  the  introduction  of  molding  ma- 
chines, were  filled  by  female  workers. 

Before  the  close  of  the  decade  following  1870  there  was 
a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  women  cigar  makers  em- 
ployed  throughout   the    country.*     The    national    union    in 

*  Andrews  and  Bliss,  p.  92. 

^  MS.  Proceedings,  1863,  p.  60.  Miss  Edith  Abbott  states  that  the 
sex  quahfication  for  admission  to  membership  was  removed  in  1867 
(p.  206).  Similarly,  J.  B.  Andrews  asserts  that  the  Cigar  Makers 
altered  their  constitution  in  1867  to  admit  women  (Andrews  and 
Bliss,  p.  92).  This  is  an  error.  Cf.  MS.  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  156; 
Constitution,  1867,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  i.  See  also  Cigar  Makers'  Official 
Journal,  June,  1878,  p.  i. 
'MS.  Proceedings,  1866,  p.  113. 

*The  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  female  cigar  makers  is 
shown  by  the  following  table : 

i860  1870  1880 

Men   7266         2615  9108 

Women  731        21409        40099 

Children  under  16 2025  4090 

Twelfth  Census  (1900)  :  Manufactures,  Ft.  Ill,  p.  648. 


535]  Admission  of  Women  8 1 

1875  ceased  to  debar  women  by  providing  that  "  no  local 
union  shall  permit  the  rejection  of  an  applicant  for  mem- 
bership on  account  of  sex  or  system  of  working."  This 
change  of  policy  was  the  occasion  of  the  withdrawal  of  sev- 
eral local  unions  from  the  national  organization.  The  Cin- 
cinnati and  Baltimore  local  unions,  which  were  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  entrance  of  women  into  the  trade  and  were 
unwilling  to  change  their  rules  so  as  to  admit  them,  re- 
mained outside  the  national  union  for  several  years. ^  In  1877 
women  were  employed  in  large  numbers  to  break  the  great 
strike  of  cigar  makers.-  In  1878  the  national  president  re- 
ported that  nearly  four  thousand  women  were  employed 
in  the  cigar  factories  of  New  York,  and  said,  "  This  state 
of  afifairs  can  not  be  altered,  it  is  better  to  unite  than  strike 
against  them,  because  the  latter  course  would  prove  futile, 
the  employment  of  women  having  increased  in  an  alarming 
proportion."^  It  seems  that  women  had  not  up  to  this  time 
been  admitted  to  the  unions  in  large  numbers,  but  the  na- 
tional union  thereafter  continued  to  advocate  the  organiza- 
tion of  women. 

From  i860  to  1880  garment  making  and  boot  and  shoe 
making  also  gave  employment  to  considerable  proportions 
of  women.  According  to  the  census  of  1880,  the  number  of 
women  employed  in  these  trades  had  greatly  increased.* 
The  clothing  cutters  of  Nev/  York  in  1855  made  the  first 
movement  toward  the  formation  of  labor  unions  in  the  ready- 
made  clothing  industry.  Similar  local  organizations  in 
other  branches  of  the  industry  were  formed  at  intervals 
thereafter,  but  usually  included  only  the  highly  skilled 
workers.^  But  with  the  exception  of  a  few  short-lived 
unions  of  sewing  women  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York, 

*  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  May,  1878,  pp.  i,  2;  July,  1878, 
p.  I. 

^  First  Annual  Report  Ohio  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1S77,  p. 
201 ;  Abbott,  pp.  197,  198. 

*  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  May  10.  1878,  p.  i. 

*  Tenth  Census,  1880,  Vol.  XX.  p.  15;  Compendium,  N'inth  Census, 
1870,  p.  802 ;  Compendium,  Tenth  Census,  1880,  pp.  834,  835. 

*The  Garment  Worker,  Vol.  V,  No.  4,  pp.  18-20. 
6 


82  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [53^ 

formed  under  the  care  of  the  men's  local  trade  organiza- 
tions, women  are  not  known  to  have  taken  any  part  in  the 
labor  organizations  of  the  trade  until  the  eighties.^ 

The  first  national  organization  of  shoemakers  was  the 
Knights  of  St.  Crispin,  which  flourished  from  1867  to  1874. 
The  objects  of  the  order  were  declared  to  be  "to  protect  its 
members  from  injurious  competition  and  secure  thorough 
unity  of  action  among  all  workers  on  boots  and  shoes  in 
every  section  of  the  country."  Local  lodges  of  "  Daughters 
of  St.  Crispin  "  were  also  formed  by  women  shoemakers  in 
certain  cities.-  The  program  of  the  Knights  of  St.  Crispin 
included  the  restriction  of  the  employment  of  new^  compet- 
ing classes  of  cheap  labor.^  Frequent  strikes  against 
"  green  hands  "  occurred,  and  members  were  forbidden  to 
teach  any  part  of  the  trade  to  new  hands,  except  by  permis- 
sion of  a  local  lodge.  The  employment  of  women  was  thus 
opposed  in  so  far  as  unskilled  female  labor  was  replacing 
men  in  the  factories.  At  this  time,  however,  women  were 
not  competing  with  men  in  the  principal  processes  of  boot 
and  shoe  making;  for  the  most  part,  the  women  were  per- 
forming with  machines  the  operations  which  they  had  for- 
merly done  by  hand  at  home.*  The  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  Crispin  in  session  at  Worcester,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1869  extended  to  the  working  women  who  had 
joined  the  order  of  Daughters  of  St.  Crispin  "  full  support  in 
all  honest  efforts  to  improve  their  social  or  material  condi- 
tion." But  women  were  denied  admission  to  the  men's 
lodges  by  the  national  constitution  adopted  at  Boston  in 
1870.5 

^  Fincher's  Trades'  Review,  October  15,  1863,  p.  60.  Reprinted  in 
Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  p.  123 ;  Herron,  "  Labor  Organiza- 
tion among  Women,"  in  University  of  Illinois  Studies,  Vol.  I,  No. 
10,  p.  16;  Willet,  "The  Employment  of  Women  in  the  Clothing 
Trades,"  in  Columbia  University  Studies,  Vol.  XVI,  No.  2,  pp.  330, 
331. 

^  Report  of  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  1880, 
p.  32;  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  March,  1878,  p.  i. 

*  McNeill,  The  Labor  Movement,  pp.  201,  202. 

*  Abbott,  p.  173. 

^  Constitution,  1870,  Art.  XVI.  Sec.  i ;  Constitution  of  Subordinate 
Lodges,  1870,  Art.  X ;  Lescohier,  pp.  28,  38,  69,  76. 


537]  Admission  of  Women  83 

The  same  development  in  policy  shown  in  the  four  trades 
in  which  women  were  largely  employed  is  found  in  the 
Knights  of  Labor.  At  the  third  regular  session  of  the  gen- 
eral assembly  in  1879  the  grand  master  workman  in  his 
report  directed  attention  to  the  fact  that  production  by 
machinery  had  resulted  in  the  displacement  of  men  by 
women  and  children,  and  declared  that  a  statement  of  policy 
should  be  formulated  on  the  subject.  As  a  practical  meas- 
ure a  proposition  was  made  to  admit  women  to  membership 
and  to  permit  them  also  to  form  separate  assemblies,  but 
although  approved  by  a  majority  it  failed  of  adoption  for 
lack  of  the  two-thirds  vote  required.^  In  1880  the  proposi- 
tion was  adopted."  Women  were  thus  granted  the  oppor- 
tunity to  organize,  and  contemporary  accounts  show  that 
thereafter  many  of  them  became  members.^ 

To  sum  up,  it  may  be  said  that  the  policy  of  labor  or- 
ganizations with  reference  to  the  affiliation  and  membership 
of  women  in  1880  represented  a  considerable  advance  over 
that  of  i860.  General  federations  and  trade  unions  which 
formerly  had  been  either  indifferent  or  hostile  to  women 
workers  recognized  that  women  occupied  a  permanent  place 
in  industry,  and  were  favorable  to  their  organization.  As 
has  been  noted,  the  National  Labor  L^nion  and  the  Knights 
of  Labor  and  the  national  unions  of  printers,  cigar  makers 
and  boot  and  shoe  workers  sanctioned  either  the  separate 
organization  of  working  women  or  their  admission  into  the 
men's  unions.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  even  the  ap- 
proximate membership  of  women  in  trade  organizations  at 
this  time.  But  it  seems  to  have  been  small,  and  their  par- 
ticipation in  the  affairs  of  the  unions  comparatively  slight. 

In  the  period  since  1880  industrial  growth  and  the  widen- 
ing use  of  mechanical  processes  have  made  possible  a  con- 
stantly larger  utilization  of  the  labor  of  women  workers  in 

^  Proceedings,  1879,  pp.  99,  125. 

^  Proceedings,  1880,  pp.  192.  226. 

^  Tenth  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  and  Industries.  New- 
Jersey,  1887,  pp.  24,  25.  The  231  local  assemblies  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor  in  New  Jersey,  with  a  total  membership  of  40,172,  had  4400 
women  members   (Ely,  The  Labor  Movement,  pp.  82,  83). 


84  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [53^ 

many  branches  of  production.  Labor  organization  has  also 
been  extended  to  a  larger  number  of  trades  than  in  any 
previous  period.  The  problem  of  female  labor  has  thus 
attained  a  greater  importance,  and  the  part  which  women 
have  had  in  labor  organization  has  been  increasingly  prom- 
inent. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  constantly  de- 
clared that  its  purpose  is  to  unite  the  laboring  classes  with- 
out regard  to  color,  sex,  nationality,  or  creed.^  Organizers 
and  officers  of  the  Federation  have  actively  promoted  union- 
ism among  working  women ;  women  delegates  are  present 
at  the  conventions,  and  local  unions  of  female  workers  have 
in  some  cases  been  directly  affiliated  with  the  Federation.^ 
The  organization  of  women,  however,  concerns  the  trade 
unions  directly  interested  rather  than  a  federation  of  the 
unions.  The  extent  of  the  participation  of  working  women 
in  labor  organizations  in  recent  years  may,  therefore,  best 
be  determined  by  surveying  the  existing  regulations  and 
practices  of  the  different  unions  with  reference  to  women 
workers. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  national  trade  unions  are  not 
concerned  with  the  problem  of  female  labor.  Women  are 
excluded  from  several  important  groups  of  occupations  by 
lack  of  physical  strength.  They  are  thus  prevented,  for 
example,  from  entering  the  building,  transportation  and 
engineering,  mining,  metal,  machine,  and  wood  working 
groups  of  trades,  and  such  miscellaneous  trades  as  horse 
shoeing,  glass  blowing,  brick  making,  and  brewing.  Unions 
which  are  concerned  with  women  workers  are  principally 
in  the  following  groups  of  trades:  printing,  manufacturing 

*  Annual  Report  of  President,  Proceedings,  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  1887,  p.  10;  Proceedings,  1888,  p.  15. 

'  Herron,  p.  48.  Women  employed  in  pottery  warehouses  were 
in  1901  organized  into  an  independent  local  union  of  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  (Proceedings,  Operative  Potters,  1901, 
p.  6).  Secretary  Morrison  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
informs  the  writer  that  in  December,  191 1,  there  were  affiliated 
directly  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  seventeen  local 
unions  composed  exclusively  of  women.  These  were  employed 
in  miscellaneous  trades,  and  included  button  makers  and  factory 
operatives.     Nine  of  the  seventeen  were  in  Porto  Rico. 


539]  Admission  of  Women  85 

of  tobacco  products,  textile,  clothing,  pottery,  bakery,  up- 
holstery, musical  and  theatrical  professions,  hotel  and  res- 
taurant work,  retail  trade,  clerical  work,  and  meat  packing. 
The  unions  in  these  trades  may  be  divided  into  two  classes 
according  as  they  restrict  or  encourage  the  organization  of 
women. 

Only  a  small  number  of  national  trade  unions  at  the 
present  time  entirely  forbid  the  admission  of  women.  The 
Barbers,^  the  Watchcase  Engravers,^  and  the  Switchmen^ 
have  for  a  number  of  years  entirely  excluded  women  from 
membership.  In  recent  years  female  labor  has  been  intro- 
duced into  core  making,  which  is  a  branch  of  the  molding 
trade.*  In  1907  the  Molders  resolved  to  seek  "  the  restric- 
tion of  the  further  employment  of  women  labor  in  union 
core  rooms  and  foundries,  and  eventually  the  elimination 
of  such  labor  in  all  foundries."^  Since  that  time  the  penalty 
of  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  or  of  expulsion  has  been  provided 
if  any  member  gives  instruction  to  female  laborers  in  any 
branch  of  the  trade.®  The  rule  of  the  national  union  pre- 
scribing the  classes  of  persons  eligible  for  membership  has 
not  been  changed,  so  that  only  men  are  admitted. 

The  Operative  Potters,  Upholsterers  and  Paper  Makers 
admit  women  employed  in  certain  branches,  but  not  those 
employed  in  others.  For  example,  female  pottery  operatives 
employed  in  decorating,  finishing  oflF,  and  wareroom  work 
are  encouraged  to  become  members,  but  the  union  has  en- 
deavored to  exclude  women  from  the  main  branches  of  the 
trade,  in  which  men  are  employed.'^  Local  unions  of  the 
workmen  in  these  branches  of  the  trade  do  not  admit 
women.     The  Upholsterers  admit  women  only  when  they 

^  Constitution,  1902,  Sec.  65. 

'  Constitution,   1906,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  6. 

'Constitution  of  Subordinate  Lodges,  1905,  Sec.  141. 

*The  employment  of  women  to  make  light  iron  and  steel  cores 
was  noted  first  for  New  York  State  in  1899  (Seventeenth  Report, 
New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1899,  p.  10).  In  1897  the 
Boston  Core  Makers  threatened  to  strike  on  account  of  the  employ- 
ment of  girls  (Industrial  Commission  Report,  Vol.  XVII,  p.  48). 

"  Proceedings,  1907,  p.  56. 

'  Proceedings,  1907,  p.  51. 

^  General  Laws,  1905,  Sec  148. 


86  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [540 

are  employed  as  seamstresses.^  The  Paper  Makers  sim- 
ilarly permit  female  workers  only  in  certain  specified 
branches  to  become  members,  and  this  only  at  the  discretion 
of  a  subordinate  union.^ 

In  all  of  the  trades  restricting  the  admission  of  women  the 
number  of  women  employed  is  small.  The  number  of 
women  engaged  in  the  molding  trades  who  are  eligible  by 
training  to  join  the  union  is  estimated  by  union  officials  at 
about  one  thousand.  The  number  of  female  barbers  is 
probably  not  greater.  The  unions  consider  it  wise  to  dis- 
courage the  further  entrance  of  women  into  employment 
by  withholding  from  them  the  protection  of  union  member- 
ship. This  restrictive  policy,  as  we  have  seen,  has  usually 
been  pursued  by  organized  workmen  when  first  meeting  the 
competition  of  women. 

The  remaining  twenty-five  or  more  unions  in  trades  where 
women  are  employed  to  a  considerable  extent,  encourage 
the  organization  of  women  workers.  In  the  trades  repre- 
sented by  these  unions  women  are  employed  in  widely  dif- 
ferent proportions.  The  necessity  for  organizing  women 
and  the  activities  of  the  organized  women  vary  widely,  there- 
fore, in  these  trades.  In  order  to  describe  clearly  the  policy 
of  these  unions  with  reference  to  the  organization  of  women 
and  to  understand  the  reasons  prompting  the  adoption  of  a 
liberal  admission  policy,  this  group  of  unions  may  be  con- 
veniently subdivided  into  two  classes  according  as  the  unions 
are  in  trades  in  which  men  compose  the  major  part  of  the 
labor  supply  and  perform  the  principal  trade  processes, 
or  are  in  trades  in  which  women  form  a  large  and  important 
element  of  the  labor  supply  and  compete  or  control  in  the 
important  branches  of  work. 

^  Since  1898  the  brotherhood  has  encouraged  women  to  become 
members  by  ofifering  to  admit  them  for  half  the  regular  initiation  fee 
(Proceedings,  1898,  p.  37).  Local  Rules,  1910,  Sec.  109,  reads:  "In 
locals  where  females  are  admitted  the  initiation  shall  be  one-half  the 
regular  initiation  fee,  or  $1.50  for  females."  In  1910,  according  to 
the  secretary,  there  were  about  100  women  members.  These  were 
employed  in  the  finishing  departments,  and  did  not  compete  with 
the  men. 

°  General  Laws,  1906,  Sec.  4. 


54i]  Admission  of  Women  87 

The  first  class  of  unions  includes  the  Printers,  Cigar 
Makers,  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,  Meat  Cutters  and 
Butcher  Workmen,  Travelling  Goods  and  Leather  Novelty 
Workers,  Bakers  and  Confectionery  Workers,  Potters, 
Metal  Polishers,  Buffers,  Platers  and  Brass  Workers,  Retail 
Clerks,  Musicians,  Wood  Carvers,  Commercial  Teleg- 
raphers, Shingle  Weavers,  Post  Office  Clerks,  Brewery 
Workers,  United  Hatters,  Box  Makers  and  Sawyers,  Paper 
Makers,  and  Upholsterers.  In  each  of  these  trades  the  men 
are  more  numerous,  and  women  usually  compete  only  in 
that  part  of  the  work  which  is  quickly  and  easily  learned, 
in  operating  light  machinery,  and  in  doing  supplementary 
work  which  does  not  require  great  physical  strength.  Thus 
in  the  printing  trade,  women  have  been  for  the  most  part 
employed  in  setting  and  distributing  type.  In  cigar  making, 
women  were  first  employed  to  strip  leaves  and  break  bunches 
of  tobacco,  work  which  was  preparatory  to  the  filling  and 
the  finishing  of  the  cigars  by  journeymen.  More  recently 
female  employees  have  been  extensively  used  to  operate 
wrapper  cutting,  bunch  making  and  rolling  machines.  In 
the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  women  are  employed 
chiefly  in  fitting  and  sewing  shoe  uppers,  work  formerly 
done  by  hand  but  now  by  machines.  In  the  brewery  trade, 
women  are  found  only  in  the  bottling  division ;  in  meat 
packing  they  compete  mainly  in  the  work  of  packing,  can- 
ning, painting,  and  labeling.  In  a  similar  manner  women's 
work  has  been  utilized  in  other  trades  of  this  class.  The 
problem  confronting  the  men's  trade  unions  has  been  how 
to  avoid  the  hurtful  competition  of  female  labor  in  certain 
branches  of  the  trade. 

As  has  been  pointed  out,  the  Printers  and  the  Cigar  Mak- 
ers for  a  long  time  did  not  permit  women  to  become  mem- 
bers of  the  union,  and  endeavored  in  this  way  to  exclude 
them  from  the  trade.  In  the  seventies  both  unions  aban- 
doned this  policy,  and  began  to  promote  organization  among 
women  as  a  means  of  protection  against  their  hurtful  com- 
petition.    In  1884  the  Typographical  Union  upheld  a  de- 


88  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [542 

cision  of  the  president  that  a  local  union  could  not  reject 
an  applicant  on  account  of  sex.^  In  1881  the  president  of 
the  Cigar  Makers  strongly  advised  local  unions,  in  view  of 
the  constantly  increasing  employment  of  women,  "  to  extend 
the  hand  of  brotherhood  to  them,  and  labor  to  organize 
them,"  and  added :  "  Better  to  have  them  with  us  than 
against  us.  .  .  .  They  can  effect  a  vast  amount  of  mischief 
outside  of  our  ranks  as  tools  in  the  hands  of  the  employer 
against  us."^  The  union  has  since  sustained  the  president 
and  executive  board  in  enforcing  the  rule  in  all  cases  where 
local  unions  have  denied  admission  to  women. ^ 

In  contrast  with  the  restrictive  policy  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  Crispin,  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union  since  1895 
has  admitted  persons  working  at  the  trade  regardless  of 
sex.*  In  1899  the  secretary  of  the  Meat  Cutters  and 
Butcher  Workmen  directed  the  attention  of  the  union  to 
the  fact  that  women  were  already  an  important  element  in 
the  meat  packing  industry,  and  that  the  question  must  be 
met.^  Women  in  the  trade  were,  however,  not  admitted 
until  1902,  when  the  female  employees  in  the  Chicago  pack- 
ing-houses formed  a  local  union  and  secured  a  charter.  At 
this  time  the  national  secretary  declared :  "  It  is  useless  .  .  . 
to  attempt  to  stem  the  tide  of  female  workers.  It  now 
rests  with  us  to  bring  them  into  our  organization.  ...  To 
see  that  they  are  affiliated  with  us  .  .  .  and  that  we  extend 
to  them  the  protection  which  thorough  organization  affords 
...  is  a  duty  which  we  cannot  shirk  without  grave  danger 
to  ourselves.""  In  1900  a  local  union  of  the  Metal  Polish- 
ers, Buffers,  Platers  and  Brass  Workers  desired  to  admit 
to  membership  the  women  employed  in  the  watch  case  fac- 

^  Proceedings,  1884,  pp.  20,  104. 

^  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  October,  1881,  p.  4. 

*  Proceedings,  1887,  p.  8;  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  July, 
1894,  p.  2 ;  August,  1894,  p.  2. 

*  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  i. 
^  Proceedings,  1899,  p.  27. 

*  Proceedings,  1902,  p.  23 ;  Official  Journal,  Meat  Cutters  and 
Butcher  Workmen,  February,  1903,  p.  21 ;  Commons,  "  Labor  Condi- 
tions in  Meat  Packing  and  the  Recent  Strike,"  in  Quarterly  Journal 
of  Economics,  November,  1904,  p.  21. 


543]  Admission  of  Women  89 

tories  in  Philadelphia  so  that  the  danger  that  they  would 
take  the  men's  places  in  time  of  strike  would  be  minimized. 
The  president  of  the  national  union  reluctantly  consented 
that  the  local  union  should  make  suitable  regulations  for 
organizing  the  women.^  In  1903  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Wood  Carvers  voted  down  a  resolution  providing 
that  union  members  should  not  take  work  from  a  carving 
machine  operated  by  a  woman,  and  instead  recommended 
that  women  competent  to  receive  the  prescribed  wage  should 
be  entitled  to  membership  and  receive  the  same  considera- 
tion as  was  shown  to  men.^  From  this  survey  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  unions  of  this  class  have  been  guided  purely  by 
expediency  in  shaping  their  policy.  For  protection  against 
the  competition  of  female  workers  when  it  grows  hurtful, 
the  men's  unions  favor  the  affiliation  of  women. 

The  second  class  of  unions  which  favor  the  organization 
of  women,  that  is,  the  unions  in  which  women  are  a  large 
part  of  the  workers  and  compete  in  the  more  important 
processes,  includes  the  United  Garment  Workers,  the 
United  Textile  Workers,  the  Tailors,  the  Laundry  Workers, 
the  Glove  Workers,  and  the  United  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap 
Makers.  The  work  of  these  trades  in  most  of  their  branches 
has  always  been  regarded  as  peculiarly  suited  for  women, 
and  women  have  generally  constituted  such  a  large  part  of 
the  labor  supply  as  to  cause  the  trades  to  be  known  as 
"  women's  industries."^ 

The  men's  tasks  are  usually  heavier  and  in  some  cases  re- 
quire more  skill  than  those  of  the  women,  yet  women  are 
engaged  even  in  the  most  difficult  branches  of  the  trades. 
Thus  in  the  early  manufacture  of  cloaks  the  skilled  work  of 
cutting  was  done  by  a  woman.*     After  an  elaborate  inves- 

^  Proceedings,  igcx),  p.  14. 

^Proceedings,  1903,  p.  51. 

^According  to  the  Twelfth  Census,  the  clothing  industry  in  1900 
employed  243,932  women,  138,654  men,  and  6489  children  (Manufac- 
tures, Pt.  Ill,  p.  261). 

*  Pope,  pp.  17,  28.  Pope  states  without  citing  his  authority  that 
"  in  the  early  period  of  the  industry  women  were  often  employed  as 
cutters  in  the  manufacture  of  both  men's  and  women's  clothing." 


90  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [544 

tigation  of  the  employment  of  women  in  the  clothing  trades 
in  1903,  Mrs.  Willet  made  this  report :  "  There  is,  perhaps, 
no  branch  of  the  trade  in  which  women  are  not  to  be  found. 
Even  in  the  pressing  of  coats,  which  is  extremely  heavy 
work,  the  exhausting  effect  of  which  is  frequently  noticeable 
on  the  men  engaged  in  it,  I  have  found  women  employed. 
But  it  is  possible  to  visit  hundreds  of  establishments  without 
finding  a  woman  doing  this  work."^  The  problem  of  female 
labor  has  accordingly  presented  itself  in  its  most  general 
form  to  the  unions  in  the  textile,  clothing,  and  allied  trades. 
The  wide  extent  of  the  employment  of  women  has  made  the 
problem  of  eliminating  the  hurtful  competition  of  women 
one  of  interest  to  all  the  workmen  in  the  trade,  and  further- 
more it  has  increased  the  difficulty  of  organizing  the  women. 

Labor  organization  in  the  clothing  and  textile  trades  prior 
to  the  eighties  was  chiefly  confined  to  local  movements  in 
which  women  only  occasionally  appeared.^  The  number  of 
women  in  National  Trade  Assembly  No.  231,  Cloth  Cutters, 
Trimmers  and  Tailors,  Knights  of  Labor,  organized  in  1888, 
seems  to  have  been  very  small.  During  its  seven  years  of 
existence  three  women's  local  assemblies  affiliated  with  it, 
and  two  women  were  delegates  at  the  fourth  session,  and 
three  at  the  fifth  session  of  the  national  assembly.  Women 
had  no  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Garment  Workers' 
Union  in  1891.  Before  the  close  of  that  year,  however,  3 
out  of  the  24  local  unions  chartered  were  composed  of 
women.  In  1902  the  union  was  composed  of  179  local 
bodies,  of  which  83  were  made  up  of  men  only  and  96  of 
women,  or  of  both  men  and  women.^ 

The  International  Union  of  Textile  Workers  was  formed 
in  1891  out  of  independent  trade  organizations.  Until  very 
recently  it  included  only  the  few  skilled  workmen  in  the  tex- 

;;  Willet,  p.  67.  ~~ 

'The  Tailors'  National  Union,  formed  in  1871,  dissolved  in  1876 
(Industrial  Commission  Report,  Vol.  XVIII,  p.  64).  The  present 
national  organization  of  tailors  dates  from  1883.  The  Tailors  seem 
not  to  have  admitted  women  in  the  early  years  of  their  organization. 
The  Mule  Spinners  were  organized  in  1889,  but  did  not  admit 
women. 
^  Herron,  p.  39. 


545]  Admission  of  Women  91 

tile  trade.^  The  Ladies'  Garment  Workers,  the  Shirt, 
Waist  and  Laundry  Workers,  the  Glove  Workers,  and  the 
Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers'  unions,  all  formed  since  1900, 
have  from  the  beginning  included  considerable  numbers  of 
women.  But  the  union  movement  in  these  trades  has  en- 
listed a  disproportionately  small  part  of  the  total  number 
of  women  workers.  The  union  officials  complain  that  the 
difficulty  with  which  the  women's  interest  in  their  trade 
unions  is  maintained  and  their  willingness  to  work  at  low 
wages  retard  the  growth  of  unionism  among  them.- 

Some  of  the  unions  make  special  concessions  to  women 
in  order  to  induce  them  to  join.  In  some  cases,  for  instance, 
the  initiation  fee  and  regular  dues  are  made  lower  for 
women  members  than  for  men.  Until  1903  the  United  Gar- 
ment Workers  provided  that  women  applicants  might  be 
charged  only  half  the  regular  initiation  fee.  The  Potters,' 
the  Paper  Makers,*  and  the  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers^ 
thus  also  provide  for  a  reduction  of  the  fee  for  women. 
The  Travellers'  Goods  and  Leather  Novelty  Workers®  and 
the  Retail  Clerks^  have  charged  their  female  members  lower 
regular  dues  than  are  required  of  the  men.  Women  are 
also  not  strictly  required  to  attend  the  union  meetings. 
Social  attractions  have  been  introduced  as  a  feature  of  union 
meetings  to  retain  the  interest  of  the  indifferent.* 


^  Constitution,  1898,  Art.  XIX,  Sec.  2 ;  Constitution,  1903,  Art. 
XIX,  Sec.  2. 

'The  Union  Boot  and  Shoe  Worker,  Julv,  1906,  p.  34;  Proceedings, 
Cigar  Makers,  1883,  p.  4;  Tenth  Report,  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New 
Jersey,  1887,  pp.  14,  15;  Proceedings,  Bookbinders,  1896,  p.  17. 

'Local  Rules,  1910,  Sec.  108. 

*  General  Laws,  1906,  Sees.  24,  48. 

'Constitution,  Art.  XV,  Sec.  i. 

'Constitution,  1903,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  i. 

^  Retail  Clerks'  International  Advocate,  October,  1905,  p.  17. 

®As  to  this  side  of  union  activities,  Mrs.  Willet  says:  "Unless 
through  practical  compulsion  from  without  I  doubt  whether  any 
woman's  union  has  maintained  itself  with  a  large  membership  for  a 
considerable  number  of  years  without  the  aid  of  dances,  card  parties 
and  social  gatherings  of  other  kinds.  The  greater  care  with  which 
social  bonds  are  developed  in  small  towns  and  cities  accounts  largely 
for  the  greater  activity  of  the  unions  located  in  small  places " 
(P-   195)- 


92  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [54^ 

Another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  maintaining  successful 
organizations  of  working  women  arises  from  the  inevitable 
tendency  toward  a  disparity  in  the  wages  of  men  and  of 
women.  Ordinarily  a  woman  does  not  enter  a  trade  to 
master  its  branches,  but  is  likely  to  become  efficient  at  only 
one  or  two  of  its  parts.  Lack  of  physical  strength  to  per- 
form heavy  work,  the  shorter  period  of  industrial  life,  and 
the  weaker  bargaining  power  of  women  combine  to  keep 
women's  wages  low.  This  fact  constitutes  a  persistent  prob- 
lem to  unionists  after  women  have  been  organized.  Thus, 
for  example,  members  of  the  New  York  "  Women's  Typo- 
graphical Union,"  chartered  in  1868,  were  unable  to  secure 
employment  at  the  standard  rate  of  wages.  The  Printers 
soon  ceased  to  provide  for  chartering  women's  unions  in 
order  to  avoid  the  danger  to  the  wage  scale.  They  have 
continued  to  favor  the  admission  of  women  into  men's 
unions,  where  one  scale  of  wages  may  be  enforced.^  In 
1903  the  Travellers'  Goods  and  Leather  Novelty  Workers 
provided  that  women  should  receive  journeymen's  pay  for 
journeymen's  work.^  The  unions  insist  upon  the  doctrine 
of  "  equal  pay,"  and  endeavor  consistently  to  enforce  rules 
to  that  effect. 

While  the  national  unions  have  thus  promoted  organiza- 
tion by  urging  the  admission  of  women,  by  granting  separate 
charters,  by  offering  special  inducements,  by  reducing  fees 
and  dues,  and  by  demanding  equal  wages  and  conditions  for 
women,  the  local  unions  ordinarily  have  final  control  in 
admitting  members.  The  liberal  policy  of  the  national 
union  may,  therefore,  be  disregarded  by  the  action  of  a 
local  union  in  denying  admission  to  women  applicants,  in 
refusing  its  consent  that  a  separate  charter  be  granted,  or 
in  rejecting  female  applicants  holding  transfer  cards. 
Cases  of  such  action  by  local  unions  have,  however,  not 
been  frequently  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  national 
unions.  The  International  Typographical  Union  in  1884 
held  that  a  subordinate  union  could  not  reject  an  applicant 

^Barnett,  pp.  314.  3iS. 

"  Constitution,  1903,  Art.  V,  Sec.  7. 


547]  Admission  of  Women  93 

on  account  of  sex.^  The  Cigar  Makers  in  similar  disputed 
decisions  have  repeatedly  reversed  the  action  of  the  local 
unions.-  The  right  of  a  rejected  applicant  to  appeal  to  the 
national  union  against  rejection,  which  is  expressly  provided 
for  in  a  few  and  permitted  in  many  unions,  tends  to  elim- 
inate any  divergence  of  this  sort  between  local  and  national 
union  policy. 

Owing  to  the  fragmentary  character  in  some  cases,  and 
the  entire  absence  in  others,  of  statistics  distinguishing  the 
male  and  female  union  members,  it  is  impossible  to  state  the 
exact  membership  of  women  in  national  trade  unions. 
Available  estimates  for  particular  trades  and  localities, 
however,  warrant  the  conclusion  that  women  form  but  a 
very  small  part  of  the  total  number  of  unionists.  Only 
eight  unions,  the  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers,  the 
Brewery  Workmen,  the  Bookbinders,  the  Cigar  Alakers,  the 
Typographical  Union,  the  Glove  Workers,  the  Laundry 
Workers,  and  the  United  Garment  Workers,  are  officially 
estimated  to  have  each  more  than  one  thousand  w'omen 
members.^  Even  in  the  clothing  trades,  where  a  large 
number  of  women  unionists  might  be  expected  in  view  of 
the  large  proportion  of  women  to  men  employed,  the  facts 
do  not  bear  out  the  expectation.  For  example,  the  garment 
trade  in  1900  included  120,950  wage  earners,  of  whom  69,- 
862,  or  57.8  per  cent.,  were  women.*  The  proportion  of 
women  in  the  union  is  estimated  to  be  about  26,000  out  of 
78,000  members,  or  30  to  35  per  cent.  Again,  the  glove 
trade  in  1900  employed  14,436  workers,  of  whom  9754  (or 

^  Proceedings,  1884,  pp.  20,  104. 

^Proceedings,  1887,  p.  8;  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  July, 
1894,  p.  2;  August,  1894,  p.  2. 

*  The  following  estimates,  made  for  the  writer  b}-  the  president  or 
secretary  of  each  of  these  unions,  show  approximately  the  number 
of  women  members:  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers,  1000; 
Brewery  Workmen,  "about  1200  or  1500;"  Bookbinders,  2500;  Cigar 
Makers,  "  about  4000 ;"  Typographical  Union,  "  perhaps  5000 ;"  Glove 
Workers,  1200;  Laundry  Workers,  5500;  United  Garment  Workers, 
about  26,000. 

*  Twelfth  Census,  Manufactures,  Pt.  Ill,  p.  267. 


94  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [548 

67.3  per  cent.)  were  women  and  280  were  children.^  Women 
constitute  about  two  thirds  of  the  membership  of  the  union. 
For  some  years  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Statistics  has 
collected  statistics  of  membership  directly  from  local  unions. 
The  data  thus  obtained  are  the  most  comprehensive  in  ex- 
istence relating  to  the  subject  of  women  trade-union  mem- 
bers. These  figures  show  that  from  1894  to  1908  the  pro- 
portion of  women  to  all  trade  unionists  has  actually  fallen 
off  from  4.8  to  2.9  per  cent.- 

An  explanation  of  the  ineffectiveness  of  women  as  trade 
unionists  involves  certain  personal  and  economic  consider- 
ations peculiar  to  the  employment  of  women.  First,  the 
wage  question  ordinarily  does  not  present  itself  as  likely 
to  be  an  important  question  throughout  the  life  of  a  woman. 
The  expectation  of  marriage  causes  most  women  to  look 
upon  the  period  of  industrial  employment  as  temporary,  and 
this  feeling  naturally  results  in  an  unwillingness  to  expend 
time,  energy,  and  money  in  building  up  an  organization  from 
which  they  expect  to  derive  advantages  for  only  a  few  years. 
For  similar  reasons,  sickness,  death,  and  out-of-work  bene- 
fits, which  are  recognized  as  a  force  in  holding  together 
men's  unions,  appeal  less  strongly  to  women  than  to  men. 
Second,  women  lack  the  courage  and  aggressiveness  requi- 
site for  encountering  employers,  and  for  demanding  any  de- 
sired measure.  Unionists  have  asserted  in  some  cases  that 
it  is  the  submissiveness  and  docility  of  women  which  recom- 


^  Twelfth  Census,  Manufactures,  Pt.  Ill,  pp.  784,  786,  792. 

"  The  proportion  of  women  to  all  trade  unionists  shows  a  decrease 
in  igo8.  Since  1901  the  proportion  has  decreased  steadily  until  1907 
when  a  slight  increase  was  registered.  In  1908,  however,  the  per- 
centage decreased  from  that  of  1907. 


Year 

Percent;*ge 

Year 

Percentage 

1894 

4.8 

1902 

4-7 

189s 

5.6 

1903 

3.7 

1897 

3.4 

1904 

3.3 

1898 

4.4 

1905 

3.2 

1899 

4.0 

1906 

2.9 

1900 

4.8 

1907 

3.3 

1 901 

5.3 

1908 

2.9 

Twenty-Sixth  Report,  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1908, 
pp.  xlvii-xliii. 


549]  Admission  of  Women  95 

mend  them  for  employment  at  reduced  wages  in  place  of 
men.^  Third,  the  wide  employment  of  women  in  displace- 
ment of  men  as  a  rule  indicates  loss  of  the  skill  required  in 
the  trade.  Women  are  chiefly  employed  in  the  unskilled 
branches  of  a  trade  at  very  low  wages,  and  these  are  not 
favorable  conditions  for  successful  trade-union  activity. 
Finally,  the  tacit  or  open  opposition  of  the  men  to  the  em- 
ployment of  women  still  obstructs  to  some  extent  the  or- 
ganization of  women. 

^  Report  of  President,  Cigar  Makers'  International  Union,  Supple- 
ment to  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  September,  1883,  p.  4. 


CHAPTER   V 

ADMISSION  OF  ALIENS 

The  chief  question  which  is  usually  raised  regarding  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  of  immigration  has  to  do  with 
its  effect  upon  native  labor.  Many  persons,  especially 
among  the  working  classes,  contend  that  immigrant  competi- 
tion tends  to  depress  wages  and  to  lower  the  conditions  of 
employment.  Since  the  decade  1831-1840,  when  the  num- 
ber of  immigrants  for  the  first  time  reached  the  half-million 
mark,^  legislative  restriction  has  been  continuously  advo- 
cated and  to  some  degree  enforced.^  But  apart  from  legis- 
lation, the  American  workman  has  undertaken  to  reduce 
what  he  regards  as  the  evil  of  immigration.  Trade  unions 
have  sought  to  accomplish  this  either  by  promoting  organi- 
zation among  immigrant  aliens,  or  by  restricting  their  ad- 
mission into  union  membership. 

Many  organized  trades  are  without  any  considerable  for- 
eign-born element,  and  are  not  concerned  with  the  prospect 
of  an  increased  supply  of  workmen  through  immigration. 
For  example,  the  Printing  Pressmen,  the  Commercial  Teleg- 
raphers, the  Bridge  and  Structural  Iron  Workers,  the  Steam 

^  Abstract  of  Statistical  Review  of  Immigration  to  United  States, 
1820  to  1910,  p.  9.     Government  Printing  Office,  Washington,  191 1. 

^  In  1838  the  House  of  Representatives  instructed  a  select  com- 
mittee to  consider  the  expediency  of  lengthening  the  term  of  resi- 
dence required  for  naturalization,  and  of  providing  by  law  against 
the  introduction  into  the  United  States  of  vagabonds  and  paupers. 
The  report  of  the  committee  recommended  immediate  legislative 
action,  not  only  by  Congress,  but  also  by  many  of  the  States,  "  so 
that  alleged  evils  could  be  remedied  and  impending  calamities 
averted "  (Abstract  of  Report  of  Immigration  Commission  on 
Federal  Immigration  Legislation,  pp.  8-15).  More  recently  a  New 
York  state  license  law  restricted  licenses  for  eccentric  firemen  to 
citizens.  Similarly,  on  public  work  legislation  has  frequently 
restricted  employment  to  citizens  (Commons,  "Immigration  and  its 
Economic  Effects,"  in  Report  of  Industrial  Commission,  Vol.  XV, 
Pt.  Ill,  p.  311). 

96 


55 1]  Admission  of  Aliens  97 

Fitters,  the  Saw  Smiths,  and  the  Plumbers  represent  trades 
into  which  large  numbers  of  immigrants  have  not  entered 
and  may  not  be  expected  to  enter.  These  unions,  being 
little  if  at  all  affected  by  the  competition  of  immigrant 
workmen,  have  permitted  local  unions  to  decide  for  them- 
selves as  to  admitting  such  persons.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  great  majority  of  the  manufacturing,  mechanical,  and  min- 
ing industries  have  given  employment  for  many  years  to 
large  numbers  of  foreign-born  workmen.  These  consti- 
tute the  class  of  workers  whose  unionization  has  received 
separate  consideration  in  trade-union  policy.  The  competi- 
tion resulting  from  increasing  immigration  in  the  forties 
was  keenly  felt  in  New  York  and  other  cities.^  "  An  influx 
of  foreign  labor  into  a  market  already  overstocked"  was  in 
1844  assigned  as  a  cause  of  the  rise  of  the  Native  American 
party.^  The  movement  of  this  period  for  a  liberal  public 
land  policy  received  support  from  the  working  classes,  who 
saw  in  it  a  means  of  avoiding  the  evils  of  a  congested  pop- 
ulation in  the  eastern  part  of  the  country.^  A  little  later, 
political  motives,  combined  with  the  economic  struggle  against 
immigrant  labor,  created  Know-Nothingism  and  filled  the 
country  with  hostility  toward  foreigners.  Prior  to  the 
rise  of  strong  national  unions  near  the  Civil  War  period, 
opposition  to  alien  labor  thus  usually  connected  itself  with  a 
legislative  or  a  political  program. 

Although  the  annual  immigration  into  the  United  States 
had  fallen  off  largely  after  the  depression  of  1857  and  the 
outbreak  of  war,  the  total  number  of  arrivals  from  1861 
to  1870  was  larger  by  one  million  seven  hundred  thousand 
than  in  the  period  from  1831  to  1840.*  The  industrial  de- 
mand for  labor  invited  the  newcomers,  and  practically  all 
classes  now  extended  a  welcome  to  "  foreigners."     In  1864 

^"  Voice  of  Industry"  (Fitchburg,  Mass.),  October  9,  1845.  Re- 
printed in  Commons  and  Sumner,  Vol.  VII.  pp.  88-89. 

■Working  Man's  Advocate,  New  York,  March  23,  1844.  Re- 
printed in  Commons  and  Sumner,  Vol.  VII,  p.  90. 

^  Working  Man's  Advocate,  June  15,  1844,  p.  3. 

*  Abstract  of  Statistical  Review  of  Immigraton  to  United  States, 
1820  to  1910,  p.  9. 

7 


98  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [55  2 

the  Federal  Government  passed  a  law  to  encourage  immi- 
gration and  to  make  legal  in  this  country  contracts  signed 
abroad  by  prospective  emigrants.^  Opposition  from  the 
laboring  class  soon  manifested  itself.  In  the  large  cities  it 
protested  either  in  public  meetings  or  through  the  newly 
formed  unions.  The  president  of  the  National  Labor 
Union  was  directed  at  the  session  in  New  York  in  1868  to 
take  the  necessary  measures  to  have  revoked  the  charter  of 
the  American  Emigrant  Company,  which  was  one  of  several 
companies  established  after  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1864 
to  deal  in  immigrant  contract  labor.^  The  unions  also  sent 
representations  concerning  the  industrial  situation  to  Euro- 
pean labor  papers  for  publication.^  The  principal  argument 
employed  in  favor  of  restriction  was  that  immigrants  were 
employed  usually  at  low  wages,  and  that  further  immigra- 
tion threatened  an  oversupply  of  workmen  and  reduced 
wages. 

The  opposition  to  immigrants  has  thus  rested  on  eco- 
nomic rather  than  on  racial  or  social  grounds,  and  does  not 
show  itself  as  opposition  to  the  organization  of  such  aliens 
after  their  actual  admission  to  this  country.*  Obviously  the 
organization  of  immigrant  labor  is  the  only  means  of  pro- 
tection against  its  competition.  This  fact  was  recognized 
in  the  practice  of  local  trade  societies  at  a  very  early  date. 

^  In  recommending  the  passage  of  the  bill,  the  committee  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  said  that  never  before  in  the  history  of 
the  country  had  there  existed  such  a  demand  for  labor  (Abstract 
of  Report  on  Federal  Immigration  Legislation,  pp.  10,  11). 

*  Proceedings  of  Second  Session  of  National  Labor  Union,  New 
York,  September  21,  1868  (Pamphlet:  Philadelphia,  1868).  Re- 
printed in  Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  221-223. 

^Proceedings,  Iron  Holders,  1876,  p.  16;  Proceedings,  Iron  and 
Steel  Workers,  1880,  pp.  363-366. 

*  Thus  the  United  Garment  Workers  recently  directed  that  a 
memorial  to  Congress  be  prepared  showing  to  what  extent  the  evils 
of  the  sweating  system  were  due  to  undesirable  immigration.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  "  a  large  proportion  of  the  unorganized  clothing 
workers  of  New  York  are  recent  arrivals,  and  in  order  to  subsist 
they  are  obliged  to  assume  tasks  at  wages  which  the  Americanized 
workers  would  be  unable  to  accept,  and  yet  are  forced  to  compete 
with.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  active  measures  should  be  taken  by 
the  national  union  to  combat  this  tendency  which  nullifies  all  efforts 
to  raise  the  standard  of  labor  in  the  clothing  industry"  (Proceed- 
ings, 1900,  p.  23). 


553]  Admission  of  Aliens  99 

The  Journeymen  Stone  Cutters'  Association  in  1857  in- 
cluded a  considerable  proportion  of  Germans  in  the  member- 
ship of  the  local  unions.^  The  Cigar  Makers'  International 
Union  in  the  sixties  was  composed  in  large  part  of  German- 
speaking  members.^  In  1869  the  Printers  affiliated  a  French 
printers'  local  union  at  Montreal,  and  have  since  organized 
local  unions  of  other  nationalities.^  Other  national  unions 
also  promoted  the  organization  of  immigrants.* 

At  the  present  time  immigrants  are  ordinarily  admitted 
to  membership  without  discrimination,  or  are  affiliated  in 
separate  local  unions,  in  the  following  unions :  Actors,  Bar- 
bers, Blacksmiths,  Boiler  Makers,  Bookbinders,  Boot  and 
Shoe  Workers,  Terra  Cotta  Workers,  Amalgamated  Car- 
penters, United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters,  Car  Workers, 
Railway  Carmen,  Cement  Workers,  Cigar  Makers,  Tobacco 
Workers,  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers,  Garment  Workers 
(United),  Ladies'  Garment  Workers,  Laundry  Workers, 
Compressed  Air  Workers,  Coopers,  Foundry  Employees, 
Freight  Handlers,  Art  Glass  Workers,  Glove  Workers,  Hod 
Carriers,  Horseshoers,  Hotel  Employees  and  Bartenders, 
Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers,  Lathers,  Longshoremen,  Ma- 
chinists, Maintenance-of-Way  Employees,  Marble  Workers, 
Meat  Cutters  and  Butcher  Workmen,  ^Metal  Polishers,  Mine 
Workers,  Molders,  Pavers,  Paving  Cutters,  Piano  and 
Organ  Workers,  Plasterers,  Printers,  Quarry  Workers, 
Composition     Roofers,     Seamen,     Shipwrights,     Spinners, 

^  Stone  Cutters'  Circular,  February,  1857,  P-  1 5  August,  1857,  p.  2. 

^  MS.  Proceedings,  1864,  p.  16;  MS.  Proceedings,  1S65,  p.  55. 

^  Barnett,  p.  42. 

*  The  president  of  the  Iron  Molders'  Union  in  1876  expressed  the 
view  that  the  agreements  made  in  1872  with  the  molders'  societies  in 
England  and  Scotland  had  been  of  great  benefit,  and  had  "  prevented 
many  from  coming  here  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the  unemploj'ed " 
(Iron  Molders'  Journal,  July  10,  1876,  p.  14).  The  secretary  of  the 
Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  in  1879  com- 
municated with  the  Amalgamated  Society  in  Great  Britain  concern- 
ing immigration  to  this  country  on  the  ground  that  "  bad  results 
would  accrue  from  an  influx  of  people  to  our  shores,  and  for  whom 
there  was  no  possible  chance  of  employment"  (Proceedings,  1880, 
PP-  363-366).  See  also  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  June  10,  1878, 
p.  I. 


lOO  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [554 

Tailors,  Teamsters,  Textile  Workers,  Upholsterers.^  Local 
unions  of  certain  trades,  as  for  example  the  Cloth  Hat  and 
Cap  Makers  and  the  Shipwrights,  Joiners  and  Caulkers, 
often  reduce  the  admission  fee  to  induce  immigrants  to  be- 
come members. 

Some  unions,  on  the  other  hand,  impose  special  restric- 
tions upon  immigrant  applicants  for  membership.  Four 
special  requirements  for  admission  have  thus  been  enforced: 
(a)  naturalization,  or  declaration  of  intention  to  become 
a  citizen;  (b)  payment  of  high  initiation  fees;  (c)  approval 
or  consent  of  the  officers  of  the  national  union;  (d)  pres- 
entation of  the  card  of  a  foreign  union. 

(o)  In  consequence  of  the  large  immigration  and  the  con- 
stant importation  of  laborers  under  contract,  many  trade 
unions  in  the  eighties  urged  upon  Congress  the  enactment  of 
restrictive  legislation,-  and  began  to  discriminate  against 
immigrant  w^orkmen  in  admission  regulations.  A  rule  re- 
quiring citizenship  of  members  had  been  enforced  in  cer- 
tain local  unions.^  Its  adoption  was  frequently  proposed  as 
a  national  regulation  in  the  Amalgamated  Association  of 
Iron  and  Steel  Workers.*  In  1887  the  Bricklayers  and 
Masons-''  and  the  United  Brewery  Workmen^  provided  that 

^  Estimates  of  the  proportion  of  immigrant  workmen  in  the  mem- 
bership of  certain  of  the  above-named  unions,  as  made  by  a  union 
officer,  are  as  follows:  Ladies'  Garment  Workers,  81  per  cent.; 
United  Garment  Workers,  75  per  cent. ;  Compressed  Air  Workers, 
20  per  cent.;  United  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers,  90  per  cent.; 
Teamsters,  20  per  cent.;  Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers,  5  per  cent.; 
Meat  Cutters,  90  per  cent. ;  Car  Workers,  85  per  cent. ;  Plasterers,  20 
per  cent. ;  Glass  Workers,  20  per  cent. ;  Piano  and  Organ  Workers, 
90  per  cent. 

'  Proceedings,  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,  1884,  p.  1390. 

'  The  East  Boston  Ship  Carpenters'  Union  in  1858  maintained  a 
rule  that  only  citizens  of  the  United  States  should  be  eligible  for 
membership  ("Trade  Unionism  in  Massachusetts  Prior  to  1880,"  in 
Massachusetts  Labor  Bulletin,  No.  10,  April,  1899,  PP-  46-47).  In 
1884  the  deputy  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Local  Union  No.  30 
of  New  York  refused  to  install  a  non-citizen  applicant  as  a  member, 
in  conformance  with  a  local  regulation.  A  decision  of  the  national 
secretary  reversed  the  action  (Proceedings,  1885,  p.  30). 

*  Proceedings,  1888,  pp.  2482,  2497. 

"  Proceedings,  1887,  p.  135. 

'  Protokoll  der  Zweiten  Jahres-Konvention  des  National-Ver- 
bandes  der  Brauer  der  Vereinigten  Staaten,  1887,  p.  30. 


55S]  Admission  of  Aliens  loi 

foreign-born  applicants  might  be  admitted  to  membership 
only  after  naturalization  or  after  declaration  of  intention  to 
become  naturalized  citizens.  Other  unions  which  have  since 
adopted  similar  rules  include  the  Bakers  and  Confectionery- 
Workers/  the  Window  Glass  Workers,^  the  United  Broth- 
erhood of  Carpenters,^  the  National  Association  of  Marine 
Engineers/  the  Hotel  and  Restaurant  Employees,^  the 
American  Federation  of  Musicians,**  the  Slate  and  Tile 
Roofers,'^  and  the  Wood  Carvers.^ 

The  Marine  Engineers  and  the  Window  Glass  Workers 
require  full-fledged  citizenship.  Usually,  however,  the 
unions  accept  persons  who  have  made  declaration  before  the 
legal  authorities  of  intention  to  become  citizens.  The 
Bricklayers  enforce  the  rule  to  the  point  of  excluding  for- 
eign-born workmen  who  may  already  have  gained  admission 
into  a  local  union  without  having  taken  steps  to  become 
naturalized.''  A  statement  from  the  applicant  of  an  inten- 
tion to  become  naturalized  is  ordinarily  satisfactory.^**  In 
1902,  for  example,  a  local  union  of  bricklayers  in  Racine, 

^Constitution,  1890,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  4;  Bakers'  Journal,  September 
20,  1890,  p.  2. 

'  Constitution,  1892,  Art.  I,  Sec.  33. 

*  Constitution,  1895,  Sec.  65. 

*  Constitution,  1899,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  I. 

*  By-Laws,  1901,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  5. 
"Constitution,  1904,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  3. 
^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  3. 
"  Proceedings,  1908,  pp.  30,  63. 

'  In  1902  a  case  of  this  character  arose  in  Local  Union  No.  35  of 
New  York  City.  The  facts  were  reported  by  the  secretary  of  the 
local  union  as  follows :  "  A  member  of  our  Union  named  Erminio 
Gorto  [Italian]  went  to  work  .  .  .  and  the  bosses  offered  him  less 
than  our  standard  wages,  which  Gorto  refused,  demanding  60  cents 
per  hour.  Our  delegate  collected  the  wages  and  two  days'  waiting 
time.  The  bosses  then  appealed  to  the  Borough  executive  board 
which  decided  in  their  favor.  Then  we  appealed  to  Greater  New 
York  executive  committee  with  the  same  result,  contending,  as  the 
man  is  not  an  American  citizen,  we  should  not  protect  him."  On 
appeal  to  the  International  Union  the  decision  of  the  New  York 
executive  board  and  committee  was  upheld.  The  president  of  the 
union,  in  stating  the  decision  of  the  judiciary  board,  reprimanded 
Local  Union  No.  35  for  infraction  of  the  laws  of  the  union  as  to 
citizenship,  and  declared  that  "  it  is  imperative  that  the  laws  as 
laid  down  be  carried  out'"  (Report  of  President,  1902,  Case  No.  7, 
Judiciary  Board,  pp.  181-183). 

"Report  of  President,  1890,  p.  xxxiii. 


102  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [556 

Wisconsin,  requested  instruction  from  the  national  union 
as  to  admitting  seven  immigrant  workmen  who  were  un- 
able to  procure  their  first  papers  of  naturalization  because 
they  had  not  been  in  the  State  one  year.  It  was  advised 
that  a  declaration  of  intention  before  the  local  union  should 
be  accepted  until  the  opportunity  to  comply  with  the  law 
presented  itself.^  The  United  Brewery  Workmen^  and  the 
Musicians,  while  accepting  a  declaration  of  intention,  make 
rigid  provision  for  compelling  the  completion  of  the  process 
of  naturalization.  The  Atlantic  Coast  Seamen's  Union 
merely  recommends  that  candidates  for  admission  should  be 
citizens  or  should  have  declared  their  intention  of  so  be- 
coming.^ 

The  reasons  ordinarily  advanced  in  explanation  of  the  re- 
quirement of  citizenship  involve  political  and  economic  con- 
siderations. The  United  Brewery  Workmen  at  their  second 
annual  convention  in  1887  emphasized  the  necessity  of  the 
members'  acquiring  citizenship  "  in  order  to  assist  in  the 
social  and  political  reform  of  our  adopted  fatherland."* 
The  union  has  since  maintained  the  rule  as  being  in  support 
of  its  policy  of  promoting  the  welfare  of  its  members 
"  through  active  participation  in  the  political  movements  of 
the  country."  The  well-known  socialistic  proclivities  of  the 
union  probably  account  in  part  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
rule.  Desire  for  political  strength  in  elections  to  oppose 
the  prohibition  movement  may  also  be  responsible  to  some 
degree.  The  membership  has  always  been  composed  to  a 
large  extent  of  persons  of  foreign  birth,  and  particularly 
of  immigrants  from  Germany.  The  Bakery  and  Confec- 
tionery Workers  and  the  Musicians  have  also  throughout 

^  Report  of  President,  1902,  pp.  225-226. 

'The  provision  of  the  Brewery  Workmen  is  as  follows:  "Every 
candidate  who  desires  to  become  a  member  of  a  local  union  must  be 
in  possession  of  his  first  citizen  papers,  and  he  must  secure  his 
second  papers  at  such  time,  as  he  legally  is  entitled  to  do  so.  This 
provision  must  be  enforced  rigidly  through  a  yearly  revision,  to  be 
held  by  every  local  union  on  October  i  "  (Constitution,  1901,  Art. 
Ill,  Sec.  2). 

'  Constitution,  Art.  2,  Sec.    A. 

*  ProtokoU  der  Zweiten  Jahres  Convention,  1887,  p.  30. 


557]  Admission  of  Aliens  103 

their  history  included  a  large  proportion  of  immigrant 
workmen,  and  seem  to  have  required  citizenship  for  political 
purposes.  Opposition  on  economic  grounds  to  a  large  in- 
crease of  foreign  workmen  in  the  trade  is  also  partly  re- 
sponsible for  the  unwillingness  of  the  unions  to  admit  aliens 
until  citizenship  has  been  acquired,  or  at  least  until  natural- 
ization has  been  secured.  The  requirement  in  the  National 
Association  of  Window  Glass  Workers  is  avowedly  one  of 
several  means  which  that  union  has  adopted  to  discourage 
glass  workers  from  coming  to  this  country. 

(b)  A  universal  condition  of  admission  to  any  union  is 
the  payment  of  an  initiation  fee.  Usually  the  amount  is 
small,  and  is  not  sufficient  to  discourage  prospective  mem- 
bers ;  certain  unions,  however,  demand  higher  initiation  fees 
of  immigrants  than  of  other  applicants.  High  and  in  some 
cases  prohibitive  initiation  fees  have  been  for  a  number  of 
years  imposed  on  this  class  of  workmen  by  the  Flint  Glass 
Workers,^  the  Table  Knife  Grinders,  the  Pen  and  Pocket 
Knife  Blade  Grinders,^  the  Window  Glass  Workers,^  the 
Stone  Cutters,*  the  Granite  Cutters,^  the  Wire  Weavers,® 
the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,'^  the  Lace  Operatives,  the  Lithog- 
raphers,^ the  Print  Cutters,^  the  Brewery  Workers,^"  and 
the  Sanitary  Potters. ^^  It  was  provided  in  1887  by  the  Flint 
Glass  Workers  that  "  all  foreigners  be  taxed  one  hundred 
dollars  as  an  initiation  fee;  "  in  1904  the  charge  was  reduced 
to  $10.^-  This  amount  is  now  the  minimum  special  fee  re- 
quired of  immigrants.     In  1892  the  Window  Glass  Workers 

^  Constitution,  1887,  Art.  XXVII,  Sec.  6. 
'  By-Laws,  1891,  Sec.  9. 
'Constitution,  1892,  Art.  I,  Sec.  i. 

*  Monthly  Circular  [Stone  Cutters],  October,  1889,  p.  4;  Constitu- 
tion, Art.  V,  Sec.  3. 

*  Constitution,  1897,  Sec.  64. 
'Constitution,  1895,  Art.  V,  Sec.  I. 
^  Proceedino^s,  1903,  p.  118. 

'  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  I,  Sec.  10. 

*  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  10. 
^"Proceedings,  1906,  p.  151. 

"  Proceedings,  National  Brotherhood  of  Operative  Potters,  1908, 
P-  25. 

"  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  17,  Sec.  2. 


104  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [5  5 8 

fixed  a  fee  for  "  foreigners  "  at  $200,  in  1895  at  $500,  and  in 
1904  at  $300.  But  since  1907  the  national  executive  board 
has  been  empowered  to  determine  the  charge  for  each  in- 
dividual case.  The  Wire  Weavers,  since  1895,  and  the 
Glass  Bottle  Blowers,  since  1903,  have  charged  immigrant 
applicants  $500.  This  is  the  highest  regular  fee  imposed 
upon  an  applicant  in  any  American  trade  union. 

National  trade  unions  ordinarily  prescribe  a  minimum  ini- 
tiation fee  for  all  applicants,  but  they  often  reserve  to  local 
unions  the  right  to  increase  the  fee  for  special  cases.  In 
the  port  cities  of  the  United  States  the  local  unions  in  some 
trades  have  exercised  this  right  by  imposing  higher  fees  on 
immigrants.  Local  unions  of  the  Musicians,  the  Plasterers, 
and  the  Pattern  Makers  thus  impose  special  fees  in  addition 
to  the  minimum  fixed  by  the  national  union. 

The  imposition  of  a  special  admission  charge  in  many 
instances  may  have  no  other  purpose  than  to  secure  payment 
for  advantages  and  privileges  which  would  otherwise  be 
procured  without  adequate  contribution  from  the  prospec- 
tive member.  But  the  excessive  fees  required  by  the  Glass 
Bottle  Blowers,  the  Window  Glass  Workers,  the  Knife 
Grinders,  the  Print  Cutters,  the  Lace  Operatives,  and  the 
Wire  Weavers  are  acknowledged  to  be  for  purposes  of  ex- 
clusion. The  five-hundred  dollar  fee  of  the  Wire  Weavers 
is  maintained  as  a  prohibitive  tariff  to  keep  out  weavers 
from  England  and  Scotland.  The  last  foreign  weavers 
were  admitted  in  1906.  The  Glass  Bottle  Blowers  have 
desired  particularly  to  protect  the  trade  against  glass 
blowers  from  Sweden  and  Germany.  No  immigrant  appli- 
cants have  been  admitted  for  several  years,  and  for  three 
years  none  have  applied.  In  1908  the  Lace  Operatives  in- 
creased the  fee  for  immigrants  to  discourage  skilled  work- 
men from  migrating  to  this  country.  Local  unions  of  the 
Stone  Cutters,^  the  Granite  Cutters,^  and  other  trades 
openly  seek  protection  against  the  competition  of  foreign 
workmen  by  the  use  of  special  high  fees. 

^Monthly  Circular  [Stone  Cuttersl,  November,  1891,  p.  i. 
^  Granite  Cutters'  Journal,  September,  1891,  p.  5. 


559]  Admission  of  Aliens  105 

(c)  The  ordinary  preliminaries  to  admitting  candidates  to 
union  membership  are  a  report  of  an  investigating  com- 
mittee and  a  vote  of  the  local  union.  In  accordance  with 
specific  rule  or  by  well-established  practice  a  small  number 
of  national  unions  admit  immigrant  workmen  only  upon  the 
approval  of  the  national  officers  or  by  vote  of  a  national 
executive  board  or  of  the  entire  membership  of  the  union. 
These  include  the  glass-trades  unions,  the  United  Hatters,^ 
the  Print  Cutters,  the  Machine  Printers,  the  Wire  Weavers, 
the  Table  Knife  Grinders,  and  the  Lace  Operatives.  The 
Brewery  Workmen  require  in  addition  that  the  names  of 
all  immigrant  candidates  shall  be  sent  to  the  national  officers 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information  as  to  their  stand- 
ing from  the  brewery  workers'  union  in  the  country  from 
which  they  came.^  The  American  Federation  of  Musi- 
cians forbids  the  local  unions  to  admit  musicians  who  have 
been  imported  by  an  agent,  musical  director,  or  employer 
unless  the  national  executive  board  sanctions  their  ad- 
mission.' 

The  unions  in  the  glass  trades  have  constantly  opposed  the 
immigration  of  foreign  glass  workers.  In  the  early  eighties 
the  Window  Glass  Workers,  Local  Assembly  300,  formed 
an  international  union  with  the  aim  of  including  all  work- 
ers in  the  trade  in  the  world,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of 
adjusting  the  supply  of  workers  to  the  needs  of  each  coun- 
try.* The  Universal  Federation  maintained  for  several 
years  a  successful  existence,^  but  ceased  to  exist  during  the 

^ "  Local  secretaries  must  not  give  cards  to  foreigners.  The 
national  secretary  is  alone  authorized  to  do  so"  (Constitution,  1900, 
Art.  XX,  Sec.  i). 

*  Constitution,  1901,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  3. 

'Constitution,  1908,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  14;  Proceedings,  1906,  pp.  99, 
102. 

*  Proceedings,  1884,  pp.  13-14. 

*  In  1889  the  president  of  the  assembly  reported  that  fewer 
workers  had  been  coming  to  this  country  than  prior  to  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Federation,  and  that  no  American  firm  had  been  able  to 
advertise  for  men  in  Europe  or  send  an  agent  there  without  the 
assembly  being  notified  of  the  fact.  Fifteen  thousand  dollar?  had 
been  expended  in  establishing  the  organization,  and  over  one  thou- 
sand dollars  was  at  this  time  annually  paid  to  help  to  organize 
European  workmen   (President's  Report,  Proceedings,  1889,  p.  14). 


io6  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [5^0 

nineties.  The  policy  of  excluding  immigrant  window  glass 
workers  was,  however,  still  pursued.  In  1899  the  union,  in 
a  communication  to  the  Belgian  union,  discouraged  artisans 
from  coming  to  the  United  States,  advising  them  that  they 
could  neither  secure  work  nor  join  the  union  here.  In  that 
year  a  rule  was  also  adopted  excluding  foreign-born  work- 
men from  membership  for  a  period  of  five  years.^  Since 
1904  such  applicants,  to  gain  admission,  must  have  been  resi- 
dents for  five  years,  and  must  have  been  naturalized.  This 
rule  might  be  waived  by  special  permission  of  the  executive 
board.  All  applications  for  admission  must  pass  the  board, 
whose  concurrence  is  necessary  to  make  legal  an  election 
to  membership.^ 

At  each  annual  session  of  the  United  Green  Glass 
Workers'  Association^  since  1892  provision  has  been  made 
for  the  exclusion  of  immigrant  blowers  during  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  unless  in  the  judgment  of  the  national  presi- 
dent and  executive  board  their  admission  may  be  deemed 
necessary,*  Applications  of  foreign  workmen  desiring  to 
enter  the  trade  are  made  directly  to  the  national  officers,^ 
and  admission  may  ordinarily  be  gained  only  when  the  asso- 
ciation considers  that  the  applicants  can  be  employed.®  In 
1889  the  Flint  Glass  Workers  provided  that  a  foreigner 
who  wished  to  become  a  member  of  the  union  must  be 
proposed  by  a  member  in  good  standing  in  a  local  union. 
If  elected  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  entire  trade,  he  must 
be  admitted."^  In  1902  three  "  foreigners "  were  thus  ad- 
mitted by  vote  of  all  the  local  unions.^ 

The  requirement  that  admission  to  membership  must  be 

*  Proceedings,  1899,  pp.  14,  99. 

"Constitution,  1904,  Art.  I,  Sec.  14;  By-Laws,  1910,  Art.  V,  Sec.  3. 

*  Known  since  1895  as  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Association  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada. 

*  Proceedings,  1892,  p.  144. 

"Proceedings,  1895,  p.  96;  Proceedings,  1897,  p.  135;  Proceedings, 
1904,  p.  120. 

*  Proceedines,  1907,  p.  229. 

'  Constitution,  1889,  Art.  XXVI,  Sec.  6. 

'  Flint  Glass  Workers'  Circular,  August  14,  1902,  p.  i ;  September 
13,  1902,  p.  I. 


561]  Admission  of  Aliens  10/ 

through  the  action  of  the  national  union  makes  entrance  to 
a  trade  more  difficult  than  by  the  ordinary  method,  on  ac- 
count of  the  delay  involved.  On  the  other  hand,  the  na- 
tional officers,  executive  board,  or  entire  membership  usu- 
ally acts  with  a  view  to  the  best  interests  of  a  union  rather 
than  with  respect  to  local  prejudices.  In  this  way  greater 
effectiveness  and  convenience  are  attained  in  dealing  with  a 
problem  which  concern's  a  union  as  a  whole.  Thus,  the 
Musicians  desire  to  eliminate  the  competition  of  foreign 
musicians  who  have  been  imported  to  work  at  less  than  the 
prevailing  wages.  The  national  union  is  better  qualified 
than  are  the  local  unions  to  determine  when  this  class  of 
musicians  should  be  admitted  and  to  what  extent  they  should 
be  excluded  in  the  interest  of  the  union.  Again,  the  na- 
tional control  of  admission  is  established  with  the  intention 
of  adjusting  the  number  of  persons  admitted  to  member- 
ship to  the  needs  of  the  trades  for  workmen.  This  control 
has  tended  practically  to  keep  out  all  immigrants. 

(d)  Immigrant  workmen  who  present  certificates  of  mem- 
bership in  a  foreign  union  may  usually  obtain  favorable 
terms  of  admission  into  the  union  of  their  trade  in  this  coun- 
try. In  1889  the  Cigar  Makers  made  arrangements  for  re- 
ceiving without  charge  the  members  of  any  foreign  cigar 
makers'  union  which  had  in  return  agreed  to  accept  travel- 
ling members  of  the  American  union.^  Similarly,  the  Bak- 
ery and  Confectionery  Workers,^  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
Workers,^  and  the  Machinists*  admit  without  the  payment 
of  an  initiation  fee  or  other  restriction  any  immigrants  pre- 
senting proof  of  membership  in  a  foreign  trade  union.  The 
Brewery  Workmen  admit  the  holders  of  foreign  cards  of 
membership  only  on  condition  that  they  have  been  members 
of  a  foreign  trade  union  for  one  year  and  that  the  national 
officers  have  also  investigated  their  standing.^ 

*  Proceedings,  1889,  p.  27. 

*  Constitution,   1890,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.   12;   Constitution,  1909,  Art. 
XIII,  Sec.  8. 

*  Constitution,  1904,  Sec.  44. 

*  Constitution  of  Subordinate  Lodge,  1909,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  6. 

"In  1903  the  International  Union  of  United  Brewery  Workmen 


lo8  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [562 

Certain  unions  require  a  membership  card  as  a  condition 
for  admission.  The  United  Hatters  thus  actually  exclude 
foreign  hatters  who  have  not  credentials  from  a  recognized 
union.^  Applicants  who  show  proper  proof  of  membership 
may  be  admitted  only  during  the  first  three  months  after 
arrival.^  Since  1905  the  Operative  Potters  have  enforced  a 
rule  that  "  foreign  workmen  will  not  be  permitted  to  work 
unless  they  have  cards  showing  that  they  have  served  a  com- 
plete apprenticeship  and  are  competent  workmen."^ 

On  the  other  hand,  some  unions  have  never  made  pro- 
vision for  accepting  immigrants  who  apply  with  foreign 
union  cards.  The  Wire  Weavers,  the  Lace  Operatives,  the 
Print  Cutters,^  the  Window  Glass  Workers,^  and  the  Glass 
Bottle  Blowers^  are  openly  opposed  to  an  exchange  of  mem- 
bership cards  with  foreign  unions.  In  1908  the  Bricklayers 
and  Masons  also  refused  to  provide  for  any  recognition  of 
cards  issued  by  a  foreign  union.''' 

Ordinarily  the  purpose  of  the  requirement  that  foreign 
workmen,  to  gain  admission,  should  present  paid-up  mem- 
bership cards  is  to  secure  proof  that  the  workmen  are 
competent.  Other  aims  may  also  be  subserved.  An  ex- 
secured  an  agreement  with  the  central  brewery  workers'  organiza- 
tion of  Germany  providing  that  only  persons  who  had  been  mem- 
bers one  year  should  be  granted  the  "  international  travelling  card," 
which  entitled  them  to  favorable  admission  into  the  union  in  this 
country.  The  purpose  was  to  prevent  brewery  workmen  from  join- 
ing the  organization  just  before  they  emigrated  in  order  to  secure  a 
card,  and  "  thus  share  in  the  great  advantages  in  the  new  country 
achieved  through  organized  labor"  (Proceedings,  1903,  pp.  137-138). 
The  agreement  has  been  extended  to  include  other  organizations  in 
Europe.  In  1908  a  proposal  was  made  to  change  the  agreements  so 
that  three  years'  previous  membership  should  be  required  to  secure 
a  card  (Proceedings,  1908,  p.  154). 

'■  By-Laws,  1900,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  i ;  By-Laws,  1907.  Art.  XIV,  Sec 
I ;  Journal  of  the  United  Hatters,  October  i,  1901,  p.  3. 

^By-Laws,  1900,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  4;  Journal  of  the  United  Hatters, 
January  i,  1902,  p.  3. 

^Proceedings,  1905,  p.  49;  Proceedings,  1909,  pp.  40,  64. 

*  The  National  Print  Cutters'  Association,  in  reply  to  a  communi- 
cation from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  about  exchanging 
membership  cards  with  foreign  unions,  declared  itself  "opposed  to 
such  an  idea"  (Proceedings,  1906,  p.  6). 

'  Constitution,  1907,  Sec.  25. 

'  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  51. 

^  Proceedings,  1908,  pp.  144-145. 


563]  Admission  of  Aliens  109 

change  of  membership  cards  between  unions  of  different 
countries  is  prompted  by  a  sentiment  of  unity  in  the  labor 
movement.  The  Brewery  Workmen  apparently  seek  to 
exclude  foreign  workmen  who  have  opposed  unionism  in 
their  native  land.  In  other  unions,  such  as  the  United 
Hatters  and  the  Operative  Potters,  which  debar  qualified 
foreign  applicants  without  cards,  and  in  those  unions  which 
refuse  to  recognize  foreign  membership  cards,  the  chief 
motive  is  limitation  of  numbers.^ 

American  trade  unions  have  shaped  their  policies  under 
the  disadvantage  of  a  steady  stream  of  immigrant  labor  con- 
tributory to  practically  all  trades.  In  endeavoring  to  over- 
come or  resist  the  ill  effects  of  competition  from  this  source 
they  employ  either  the  method  of  unionizing  or  that  of  ex- 
cluding immigrant  workmen.  In  the  majority  of  trades  ex- 
clusion from  union  membership  is  not  equivalent  to  loss  of 
work.  The  policy  of  unionization,  therefore,  must  usually 
be  pursued.-  Special  restrictions  on  the  admission  of  immi- 
grants are  considered  advisable  in  only  a  small  number  of 
trades.  Several  considerations  are  influential  in  determin- 
ing a  union  to  pursue  a  restrictive  policy.  In  the  first  place, 
the  trade  must  be  substantially  under  the  control  of  the 
unions.  Otherwise  the  exclusive  rules,  intended  to  prevent 
immigrants  from  resuming  in  this  country  the  trades  at 
which  they  have  been  engaged,  would  serve  only  to  make 
them  continue  as  non-unionists.  As  a  matter  of  fact  those 
unions  which  attempt  to  restrict  the  entrance  of   foreign- 

*  Thus  the  Operative  Potters  adopted  the  policy  of  excluding 
foreign  workmen  without  membership  cards  on  the  ground  that 
"  the  influx  of  foreign  workmen  into  the  pottery  industry  is  an 
injury  to  the  members  of  our  craft "  (Proceedings,  1905,  p.  49). 

'  The  president  of  the  National  Brotherhood  of  Operative  Potters 
thus  described  the  typical  attitude  of  union  leaders :  "  Even  though 
one  honestly  believes  that  it  would  be  best  for  the  future  welfare  of 
the  country  to  keep  out  certain  immigrants,  that  does  not  justify  him 
in  doing  an  injustice  to  those  already  here.  Our  duty  should  be  to 
imbue  them  with  the  principles  of  trade  unionism  .  .  .  and  thus 
prevent  them  from  becoming  a  menace.  It  would  not  be  fair  to  deny 
them  the  opportunity  to  become  union  men  and  then  condemn  them 
for  becoming  scabs  and  strike-breakers.  There  is  neither  wisdom 
nor  justice  in  such  a  policy"  (Proceedings,  1907,  p.  8). 


no  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [5^4 

born  workmen  are  usually  strong  and  well  organized.^  Un- 
der such  conditions  it  is  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  ex- 
isting standards  of  wages  that  the  supply  of  labor  through 
immigration  be  restricted. 

The  second  and  more  fundamental  reason  why  certain 
trade  unions  are  particularly  concerned  in  excluding  immi- 
grant workmen  has  to  do  with  the  nature  of  the  trade.  A 
skilled  trade  having  identical  processes  in  Europe  and  in  the 
United  States  may  easily  be  recruited  by  trained  immigrants. 
For  example,  in  stone  cutting,  brick  laying,  and  masonry 
manual  skill  is  important,  and  the  work  in  each  trade  is 
much  the  same  wherever  performed.  These  trades  have 
had  to  meet  the  competition  of  foreign  trained  workmen.^ 
The  Stone  Cutters  and  the  Granite  Cutters  for  a  number 
of  years  have  discriminated  against  this  class  of  workmen 
by  imposing  high  initiation  fees.^  In  a  similar  manner  the 
glass-trades  unions,  the  Musicians,  the  Wire  Weavers,  the 
United  Hatters,  and  the  Brewery  Workmen  fear  the  com- 
petition of  a  supply  of  trained  workmen  seeking  employ- 
ment at  their  trades  in  this  country.  They  have,  therefore, 
by  various  means  pursued  an  exclusive  policy. 

In  the  third  place,  a  union  puts  obstacles  in  the  way  of 

*  The  following  estimates,  obtained  from  the  secretary  of  the 
union,  show  approximately  the  percentage  of  the  trade  organized  or 
controlled  by  certain  unions  which  specially  restrict  the  admission  of 
immigrants:  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  95;  Brewery  Workmen,  95; 
Musicians,  98  (except  in  the  South);  Slate  and  Tile  Roofers,  75; 
Flint  Glass  Workers,  80;  Window  Glass  Workers,  95;  Glass  Bottle 
Blowers,  98;  Wire  Weavers,  95;  Print  Cutters,  98;  Table- Knife 
Grinders,  80;  Lace  Operatives,  90;  United  Hatters,  80. 

^ "  Expertness  in  quarrying  the  stone  as  well  as  in  plastering  and 
moulding  has  been  a  transmitted  acquirement  for  more  than  2000 
years  in  Italy,  and  the  skilled  Italian  workman  in  these  lines  of 
industry  dreads  no  competition.  It  is  unquestionable  that  there 
would  be  a  much  greater  influx  of  these  valuable  artisans,  if  avail- 
able openings  for  employment  were  better  determined  and  reported, 
and  if  the  antagonism  of  the  labor  unions  to  any  outside  competition 
was  not  so  pronounced"  (Lord,  The  Italian  in  America,  pp.  96-99). 

^  Stone  cutters  have  opposed  particularly  workmen  known  as 
"  harvesters,"  who  come  only  to  work  for  a  few  months  in  summer. 
Since  1890  a  special  fee  has  been  required  of  such  immigrants 
(Industrial  Commission  Report,  Vol.  VII,  p.  745).  The  Granite 
Cutters  in  very  much  the  same  way  deal  with  "  swallows  "  in  that 
trade  (ibid.). 


565]  Admission  of  Aliens  ill 

the  admission  of  immigrants  not  only  to  exclude  them  from 
union  membership  and  from  trade  employment,  but  also  to 
discourage  prospective  emigrants  from  coming  here  for  sim- 
ilar employment.  Through  the  personal  letters  of  immi- 
grants to  friends  and  relatives  at  home  these  restrictions 
become  known,  and  are  considered  effective  to  some  extent 
in  deterring  emigration.^ 

Finally,  the  desire  among  unionists  to  prevent  outsiders 
from  coming  in  as  competitors  to  secure  advantages  in 
wages  and  improved  conditions,  which  have  been  obtained 
only  after  long  sacrifice,  is  especially  strong  in  relation  to 
foreign-born  workmen.  The  discrimination  is  economic, 
however,  and  not  racial.  Thus  the  Brewery  Workmen  and 
the  United  Hatters,  whose  membership  is  in  large  part  for- 
eign-born, are  strongly  in  favor  of  restricting  the  entrance 
of  additional  foreign  workmen  into  these  trades.  The  de- 
sire thus  to  exclude  competitors  for  employment  is  common 
to  all  unions,  but  the  majority  of  trades  are  not  sufficiently 
well  organized  at  the  present  time  to  render  effective  any 
restrictive  methods  in  dealing  with  immigrants.' 

^ "  The  immediate  incentive  of  the  great  bulk  of  present  day  immi- 
gration is  the  letters  of  persons  in  this  country  to  relatives  or  friends 
at  home.  Comparatively  few  immigrants  come  without  some  reason- 
ably definite  assurance  that  employment  awaits  them"  (Brief  State- 
ment of  Conclusions  and  Recommendations  of  Immigration  Com- 
mission, p.  17).  See  also  Proceedings  of  Window  Glass  Workers' 
Local  Assembly  300,  1889,  p.  14. 

^  Thus,  in  1905  a  local  union  of  the  Bookbinders'  Brotherhood  re- 
quested instruction  as  to  admitting  a  foreigner.  The  brotherhood 
said :  "  If  this  man  is  a  competent  bookbinder  his  place  is  on  the 
inside.  Our  brotherhood  is  a  business  proposition  and  we  cannot 
allow  sentiment  to  interfere  with  material  interests.  Much  as  we 
differ  in  our  opinion  as  to  the  question  of  foreigners  in  our  locals, 
the  fact  remains  that  they  are  an  important  factor  in  the  competitive 
field"  (The  International  Bookbinder,  June,  1905.  p.  175).  A 
decision  of  a  similar  character  showing  the  policy  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Musicians  was  made  in  1907  (International  Musician, 
March,  1907,  p.  i).  In  1891  the  corresponding  secretary  of  a 
Granite  Cutters'  local  union  wrote :  "  Who  among  us  does  not  read 
with  apprehension  the  long  list  of  unpronounceable  names  that  ap- 
pear each  month  in  our  Journal  as  new  members?"  (Granite 
Cutters'  Journal,  August,  iSgi,  p.  5). 


CHAPTER  VI 

ADMISSION   OF   NEGROES 

While  slavery  existed  in  the  South,  all  forms  of  labor, 
skilled  and  unskilled,  were  performed  to  some  extent  by 
negroes.  This  involved  the  formation  of  more  or  less 
expert  classes  of  free  and  of  slave  negro  artisans.^  Any 
organized  movement  of  negroes  to  promote  trade  welfare 
was,  however,  practically  impossible,  and  labor  reform  in 
their  behalf  was  confined  to  abolitionist  activity. 

Liberation  of  the  slaves  involved  the  introduction  of  a 
large  new  element  into  the  class  of  free  laborers  competing 
in  the  labor  market  of  the  country.  While  the  new  com- 
petition was  at  first  small  in  most  trades,  it  soon  became  of 
importance  in  certain  unskilled  and  semi-skilled  trades.  For 
example,  Irish  longshoremen  clashed  with  negroes  on  the 
waterfront  of  New  York  City  in  1863,  and  in  the  same 
year  a  strike  of  three  thousand  longshoremen  for  higher 
wages  ended  in  virtual  failure  because  the  strikers'  places 
were  taken  by  negroes.^  In  1866  and  1867  colored  caulkers 
of  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  were  brought  to  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  used  by  employers  in  a  struggle  against  the 
eight-hour  day.^  Rumors  of  the  imminence  of  negro  com- 
petition further  imperiled  wages  and  employment  in  other 
trades.*  The  problem  of  meeting  and  adjusting  the  new 
competition  was  thus  clearly  presented  to  the  laboring 
world. 

^  Lowry,  "  The  Negro  as  a  Mechanic,"  in  North  American  Review, 
April,  1893,  P-  472.  See  also  Dubois,  "  The  Negro  Artisan,"  in 
Atlanta  University  Publications.  1902,  No.  7;  Commons,  Trade 
Unionism  and  Labor  Problems,  p.  253. 

^Fite,  Social  and  Industrial  Conditions  in  the  North  during  the 
Civil  War,  p.  189. 

^  Address  of  National  Labor  Congress,  1866.  Reprinted  in  Com- 
mons and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  p.  158. 

*  Proceedings  of  National  Labor  Congress,  1867.  Reprinted  in 
Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  185-187. 

112 


567]  Admission  of  Negroes  113 

The  National  Labor  Union  at  its  initial  session  in  1866 
was  the  first  national  federation  of  labor  unions  to  deal  with 
the  issue.  The  declaration  was  then  made  that  "  the  in- 
terests of  the  labor  cause  demand  that  all  workingmen  be 
included  within  its  ranks,  without  regard  to  race  or  nation- 
ality; and  the  interests  of  the  workingmen  of  America  es- 
pecially required  that  formation  of  trades'  unions,  eight- 
hour  leagues,  and  other  labor  organizations,  should  be  en- 
couraged among  the  colored  race ;  .  .  .  and  that  they  be  in- 
vited to  cooperate  with  us  in  the  general  labor  undertaking." 
Nothing  beyond  this  mere  statement  of  opinion  was  accom- 
plished. The  time  at  which  the  cooperation  of  the  colored 
race  should  take  effect  was  left  to  the  decision  of  the  suc- 
ceeding annual  meeting.^  The  president  of  the  National 
Labor  Union  Congress,  held  in  Chicago  in  1867,  in  his  re- 
port set  forth  the  problem  clearly  and  suggested  a  course  of 
action.-  Later  in  the  session  a  "  Committee  on  Negro 
Labor"  reported  that,  although  they  realized  the  danger  of 
competition  from  this  quarter,  yet  they  believed  it  was  in- 
expedient to  take  action,  and  recommended  that  the  subject 
should  be  laid  over  until  the  next  session.  Extended  discus- 
sion revealed  wide  diversity  of  opinion  among  the  delegates. 
The  session  ultimately  adopted  the  committee's  final  report 
that  no  formal  position  should  be  taken  on  the  subject.* 
The  organized  trades  thus  again  declined  to  sanction  any 
definite  policy  with  respect  to  negro  labor. 

During  the  next  two  years  the  issue  was  pressed,  until  in 
1869,  at  the  Philadelphia  session  of  the  National  Labor 

*  Address  of  National  Labor  Congress,  1867.  Reprinted  in  Com- 
mons and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  p.  160. 

*  President  Z.  C.  Whaleyin  his  report  to  the  National  Labor  Union 
Congress,  meeting  in  Chicago  on  August  18,  1867,  said :  "  The  eman- 
cipation of  the  slaves  has  placed  us  in  a  new  position,  and  the  ques- 
tion now  arises,  what  labor  position  shall  they  now  occupy?  They 
will  begin  to  learn  and  to  think  for  themselves,  and  they  will  soon 
resort  to  mechanical  pursuits  and  thus  come  in  contact  with  white 
labor.  It  is  necessary  that  they  should  not  undermine  it,  therefore 
the  best  thing  that  they  can  do  is  to  form  trades'  unions,  and  thus 
work  in  harmony  with  the  whites"  (McNeill,  p.  136). 

*  Proceedings  of  National  Labor  Congress,  1867.  Reprinted  in 
Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX,  p.  188. 


1 14  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [5^^ 

Union,  colored  persons  were  admitted  as  delegates.  Dis- 
crimination on  account  of  color,  sex,  or  locality  was  dis- 
claimed by  resolution,  and  negroes  were  urged  "  to  form 
organizations,  .  .  .  and  send  delegates  from  every  state  in 
the  union  to  the  next  congress."^  For  the  first  time  a  na- 
tional convention  of  white  working  men  advocated  the  for- 
mation of  labor  unions  by  negroes,  and  authorized  the  ad- 
mission of  negro  delegates  to  the  annual  session. 

This  declaration  or  resolution  by  a  federation  of  unions 
was  little  more  than  a  benevolent  utterance  with  only  moral 
force  at  its  back;  it  might  be  easily  disregarded  and  nulli- 
fied by  either  a  national  or  local  union  disinclined  to  favor 
organization  among  negroes.  A  more  accurate  judgment, 
therefore,  as  to  what  was  at  this  time  the  prevailing  attitude 
of  organized  laborers  may  be  formed  from  the  union  rules 
and,  in  so  far  as  determinable,  from  the  practices  of  partic- 
ular unions  in  different  parts  of  the  country  with  respect 
to  negro  laborers. 

From  its  formation  the  Cigar  Makers'  International 
Union  by  constitutional  provision^  specifically  excluded 
negroes  from  admission.  The  Printers,  the  Iron  Holders, 
the  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,  the  Knights  of  St.  Crispin,  the 
Bricklayers  and  Masons,  and  the  Ship  Carpenters  made  no 
discrimination  against  negroes  by  constitutional  provision. 
This  fact  does  not  mean  that  negroes  were  admitted  to 
membership,  but  rather  that  they  were  not  to  any  con- 
siderable extent  engaged  in  these  trades.  Indeed,  all  avail- 
able evidence  supports  the  conclusion  that  negroes  were 
seldom  admitted  into  a  union  in  any  part  of  the  country. 
The  instance  of  negro  unionists  who  were  delegates  at  the 

^  The  Philadelphia  session  also  appointed  a  committee  of  five 
members  to  organize  the  colored  workingmen  of  Pennsylvania  into 
labor  unions.  Robert  Butler,  a  colored  delegate,  of  the  Engineers' 
Association  of  Maryland,  was  a  member  of  the  committee.  Its 
report  was  to  be  presented  at  the  next  congress.  But  it  is  not  known 
whether  the  committee  accomplished  its  work,  as  no  report  was 
made  (Workingman's  Advocate,  September  4,  i86g.  Proceedings  of 
National  Labor  Congress.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Andrews, 
Vol.  IX,  pp.  239-240). 

*  MS.  Proceedings,  1865,  p.  60;  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  136. 


569] 


Admission  of  Negroes  115 


Philadelphia  convention  in  1869  has  been  noted. ^  Notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  the  National  Labor  Union  to  enroll 
colored  laborers,  a  separate  national  negro  labor  union  was 
formed  in  1869.  The  records  of  its  few  years  of  activity 
give  evidence  of  the  unfriendly  attitude  of  the  trade  unions 
toward  negroes.^ 

During  the  succeeding  period  from  about  1870  to  1885, 
covering  the  rise,  progress,  and  rapid  growth  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor,  neither  the  attitude  nor  the  practice  of  organized 
workers  in  dealing  with  negro  labor  was  substantially  mod- 

^  In  the  discussion  of  negro  labor  at  the  Chicago  session  of  the 

National  Labor  Union  in  1867  a  delegate  of  the  Carpenters'  and 
Joiners'  Union  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  stated  that  in  New  Haven 
there  were  "a  number  of  respectable  colored  mechanics,  but  they 
had  not  been  able  to  induce  the  trades'  unions  to  admit  them."  He 
also  inquired  whether  there  was  any  union  in  the  country  which 
would  admit  colored  men.  A  representative  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
Makers'  Union  of  Chicago  was  sorry  the  words  "black"  or 
"  colored  "  had  been  used  in  the  convention,  but  was  willing  to  vote 
to  take  in  the  black  worker.  A  delegate  from  Norwich,  Conn.,  as- 
serted that  "  it  would  be  time  enough  to  talk  about  admitting  colored 
men  to  trades'  unions  and  the  congress  when  they  applied  for  ad- 
mission." W.  H.  Sylvis  of  the  Holders'  Union  of  Philadelphia  re- 
ported that  the  white  workmen  in  the  South  had  already  been  strik- 
ing against  the  blacks,  and  that  unless  the  two  races  should  begin  to 
cooperate  the  antagonism  would  destroy  the  trades'  unions  (Work- 
ingman's  Advocate,  August  24,  31,  1867,  Proceedings  of  the  National 
Labor  Congress.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and  Andrews,  Vol.  IX, 
pp.  185-188). 

^At  its  first  session  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  December,  1869,  the 
Negro  National  Labor  Union  inserted  in  its  "  platform  and  memo- 
rial to  Congress  "  a  resolution  as  follows :  "  Resolved  .  .  .  that  the 
exclusion  of  colored  men  and  apprentices  from  the  right  to  labor  in 
any  department  of  industry  or  workshops  in  many  of  the  states  and 
territories  of  the  United  States  b\-  what  is  known  as  '  trades ' 
unions,'  is  an  insult  to  God,  injury  to  us  and  disgrace  to  humanity" 
(Evening  Star,  Washington,  D.  C,  December  8,  1869,  p.  4). 

In  1871  at  the  session  of  the  union  the  committee  on  capital  and 
labor  reported :  "  Your  committee  would  simply  refer  to  the  unkind 
estranging  policy  of  the  labor  organizations  of  white  men,  who, 
while  they  make  loud  proclaim  as  to  the  injustice  (as  they  allege)  to 
which  they  are  subjected,  justify  injustice,  so  far  as  giving  an  exam- 
ple to  do  so  ma}-,  by  excluding  from  their  benches  and  their  work- 
shops worthy  craftsmen  and  apprentices  only  because  of  their  color, 
for  no  just  cause.  We  say  to  such,  as  long  as  you  persist  therein,  we 
cannot  fellowship  with  you  in  your  struggle"  (Daily  Morning 
Chronicle,  Washington,  D.  C,  January  14.  1871.  p.  4,  Proceedings 
National  Negro  Labor  Union.  Reprinted  in  Commons  and  An- 
drews, Vol.  IX,  p.  253.). 


Il6  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  \_S70 

ified,  nor  is  it  probable  that  the  number  of  negro  members 
of  labor  organizations  was  considerably  increased.  The 
Knights  of  Labor  was  originally  composed  of  skilled  work- 
men engaged  for  the  most  part  in  mechanical  industries.^ 
The  mass  of  negro  laborers  competing  in  the  market  had  not 
been  trained  as  skilled  laborers,  and  negroes  were  not 
numerous  in  the  trades  in  which  organizations  were  formed. 
In  a  few  trades,  however,  negroes  were  engaged  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  demand  consideration  from  the  labor  or- 
ganizations. For  example,  in  1871  one  of  the  largest  and 
strongest  of  the  three  New  Orleans  local  unions  of  the 
Coopers'  International  Union  was  a  colored  union.^  In 
1879  the  Cigar  Makers  removed  from  their  constitution  the 
provision  excluding  negroes  from  membership.^  In  1880 
the  Knights  of  Labor  approved  a  decision  of  the  grand  mas- 
ter workman  that  the  color  of  a  candidate  should  not  debar 
him  from  admission.*  In  Atlanta  in  1884,  and  in  Memphis 
in  1887,  a  few  negro  bricklayers  were  unionists.^ 

After  1881  the  Knights  of  Labor  had  a  rival  in  the  Fed- 
eration of  Organized  Trades  and  Labor  Unions.  Notwith- 
standing this  fact,  the  membership  of  the  Knights  increased 
until  by  1886  it  numbered  more  than  half  a  million  members. 
All  grades  and  classes  of  laborers  were  admitted,  and  a  large 
number  of  negroes  were  thus  unionized.  In  1885  negroes 
were  said  to  be  joining  the  Knights  of  Labor  everywhere 
in  the  South.''  At  the  session  of  1886  of  the  General  As- 
sembly in  Richmond,  Virginia,  District  Assembly  No.  49 
of  New  York  had  a  colored  member  as  one  of  its  delegates, 
while  other  negro  delegates  were  also  in  attendance.'^  It 
is  not,  however,  possible  to  estimate  even  approximately 
the  numerical  strength  of  the  negro  membership  of  labor 
organizations  at  this  time. 

^  Baltimore  Sun,  October  13,  1886. 

*  Coopers'  Monthly  Journal,  September,  1871,  p.  352. 

*  Proceedings,  1879,  p.  2. 

*  Proceedings,  1880,  p.  257. 

*  Semi-Annual  Report  of  President,  Bricklayers  and  Masons, 
1884,  p.  17;  Semi-Annual  Report,  1887,  p.  17. 

*  Ely,  Labor  Movement,  p.  83. 

^  Powderly,  Thirty  Years  of  Labor,  pp.  651,  652,  658. 


5/1]  'Admission  of  Negroes  117 

In  the  late  eighties  the  leadership  of  the  federated  trade 
unions  shifted  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  The 
liberal  membership  policy  toward  negroes  of  the  later  years 
of  the  Knights  of  Labor  was  also  maintained  by  the  Feder- 
ation. In  1897  it  reafifirmed  an  earlier  declaration  that 
"  the  working  people  must  unite  and  organize  irrespective 
of  creed,  color,  sex,  nationality  or  politics,"^  and  in  1910 
this  was  still  its  declared  policy.-  Prior  to  1900  the  Fed- 
eration, in  its  eftorts  to  have  all  affiliated  unions  carry  out 
this  policy,  insisted  that  unions  desiring  to  enter  or  remain 
in  affiliation  must  eliminate  the  color  clause  from  their  con- 
stitution and  laws.^  The  International  Association  of  Ma- 
chinists was  excluded  for  several  years  until  it  removed  the 
word  "  white  "  from  its  constitutional  qualifications  for  ad- 
mission. This  is  said  to  have  been  at  one  time  the  chief 
obstacle  preventing  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Fire- 
men from  affiliating  with  the  Federation.*  But  within  re- 
cent years  those  unions  which  by  their  rules  deny  admis- 
sion to  negroes  have  not  been  excluded.  In  1910  the  fol- 
lowing unions  which  thus  explicitly  exclude  negroes  were 
affiliated  with  the  American  Federation :  Wire  Weavers,^ 
Switchmen,*'  Maintenance-of-Way  Employees,^  Railroad 
Telegraphers,®  Railway  Clerks,''  Commercial  Telegraphers,^*' 
Machinists,^^  and  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders. ^^ 

The  Federation  of  Labor  has  not  only  discouraged  the  ex- 
clusion of  negroes,  but  it  has  continuously  promoted  organ- 
ization among  negroes  by  positive  measures.  In  the  first 
place,  since  1900  it  has  made  provision  for  granting  separate 

^  Proceedings,  1897,  PP-  82,  83. 

*  Proceedings,  1910,  p.  237. 

*  Report  of  Industrial  Commission,  1900,  Vol.  VII.  p.  648. 

*  Report  of  Industrial  Commission,  1901,  Vol.  XVII,  p.  36. 

"  Constitution,  1894,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution.  1900,  Art.  Ill, 
Sec.  I. 
'  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  141. 
^  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  i. 
'  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  II,  Sec.  i. 

"  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  i. 

"Ritual,  1909,  p.  5. 

"  Proceedings,  i9oi8,  p.  494. 


ii8  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [57^ 

charters  to  central,  local,  and  federal  labor  unions  composed 
exclusively  of  colored  members  and  directly  affiliated  with 
the  Federation.^  The  organization  of  colored  laborers  is 
thus  made  possible  in  localities  where  otherwise,  by  the 
regular  course  of  admission  into  white  unions,  they  could 
not  be  organized.  The  objection  has  been  made  that  this 
provision  is  a  departure  from  sound  policy  in  that  it  creates 
a  substitute  method  whereby  negroes  may  be  organized,  and 
that  it  recognizes  to  this  extent  the  exclusion  of  negroes 
from    white  local  and  central  labor  unions.^ 

In  addition  to  such  efforts,  for  a  number  of  years  the 
Federation  has  annually  expended  considerable  sums  in 
employing  negro  organizers  to  form  unions  among  colored 
laborers  in  various  parts  of  the  country.^  The  policy  of  the 
Federation  appears  now  to  consist  of  two  parts;  first,  the 
substantial  encouragement  of  the  formation  of  separate 
unions  for  colored  laborers  in  localities  where  they  may  not 
otherwise  become  organized;  and,  second,  the  advocacy  in 
speech  and  publications  of  the  admission  of  negroes,  subject 
to  the  final  discretion  of  individual  national  unions. 

The  policy  and  practice  of  national  trade  unions  with  ref- 
erence to  the  organization  and  admission  of  negroes  may 
now  be  considered.  These  unions  divide  into  two  groups 
according  as  their  regulations  forbid  or  permit  negroes  to 
become  members.  The  earliest  recorded  case  of  trade- 
union  opposition  to  negro  labor  appears  to  have  been  that  of 

^In  December,  191 1,  2  negro  central  bodies  and  11  local  and 
federal  unions  with  309  members  were  affiliated  with  the  Federation. 

^  The  secretary  of  the  Car  Workers'  International  Association 
stated  to  the  writer  that  in  recent  years  the  association,  instead  of 
endeavoring  to  bring  negroes  into  its  membership,  had  pursued  the 
policy  of  turning  all  negro  car  workers  over  to  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  to  be  organized  in  federal  unions.  The  editor 
of  the  Electrical  Workers'  journal  wrote  in  1903 :  "  We  do  not 
want  the  negro  in  the  International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical 
Workers,  but  we  think  they  should  be  organized  in  locals  of  their 
own,  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  as  the 
organization  knows  no  creed  or  color"  (The  Electrical  Worker, 
April,  1903,  p.  102). 

^  In  December,  191 1,  three  salaried  negro  organizers  were  being 
employed  by  the  Federation  to  organize  negroes.  Negro  organizers 
have  thus  been  engaged  for  several  years. 


I 


573]  Admission  of  Negroes  119 

the  New  Orleans  Typographical  Society,  which  in  1834  for- 
bade its  members  to  work  "  with  a  free  man  of  color,  either 
as  compositor  or  pressman."^  Serious  opposition  to  the 
black  laborer  manifested  itself  soon  after  the  Civil  War. 
Some  labor  organizations,  even  in  the  more  skilled  occupa- 
tions such  as  the  Cigar  Makers-  and  the  Locomotive  Engi- 
neers,^ by  specific  regulations  debarred  negroes.  More- 
over, the  absence  of  specific  rules  against  the  admission  of 
negroes,  as  for  example  in  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons' 
International  Union,  did  not  signify  that  they  were  ad- 
mitted.* There  was  a  wide-spread  hostility  within  the  ranks 
of  labor  organizations  in  different  parts  of  the  country  to- 
ward negro  laborers  and  their  admission  into  the  unions. 
Opposition  to  the  entrance  of  negroes  into  the  trades,  as 
well  as  their  exclusion  from  union  membership,  thus  con- 
stituted the  essential  policy  first  pursued  by  the  white  or- 
ganizations. But  inasmuch  as  this  policy  has  not  always 
been  sanctioned  by  specific  union  rules,  it  will  be  necessary, 
in  order  to  estimate  more  carefully  the  prevalence  or  non- 
prevalence  of  the  exclusion  of  negroes,  not  only  to  indi- 
cate those  unions  whose  regulations  openly  debar  negroes, 
but  also  to  ascertain  the  practice,  under  the  rules,  of  those 
unions  which  do  not  specifically  discriminate  against 
negroes. 

The  national  trade  unions  which  practically  from  the  be- 
ginning have  denied  admission  to  negroes  are  the  Locomo- 
tive Engineers,  the  Locomotive  Firemen,  the  Window  Glass 
Workers,  the  Switchmen,  the  Wire  Weavers,  the  Mainte- 
nance-of-Way  Employees,  the  Railroad  Trainmen,  the  Rail- 
way Carmen,  the  Railway  Clerks,  the  Railroad  Telegraphers, 
the  Commercial  Telegraphers,  the  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron 
Ship  Builders,  and  the  Machinists.     Ordinarily  exclusion  is 

*Barnett,  p.  320. 

'MS.  Proceedings,  1865,  P-  60. 

*  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  1884,  Art.  II,  Sec.  i. 

*  The  president  of  the  Bricklayers'  National  Union  in  1881  re- 
ported the  second  decision  in  which  the  right  of  a  negro  member 
to  admission  by  card  into  any  local  union  was  held  subject  to  local 
discretion.  This  indicates  that  only  rarely  were  negroes  admitted 
(Proceedings,  1881,  p.  7). 


I20  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [574 

established  by  the  membership  qualification  clause  of  the 
national  organization.  For  example,  the  Locomotive  Fire- 
men have  provided  by  constitutional  provision  since  1884 
that  only  "  white-born  "  applicants  are  eligible.^  The  Boiler 
Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders  and  the  Machinists  accom- 
plish the  exclusion  by  a  rule  or  pledge  which  forms  part  of 
the  ritual  and  binds  each  member  to  propose  only  white 
workmen  for  membership.^ 

The  persistence  with  which  this  comparatively  small 
group  of  unions  openly  adheres  to  negro  exclusion  is  not  to 
be  attributed  to  any  fear  of  serious  competition  of  negroes. 
In  the  first  place,  the  majority  of  the  trades  or  occupations 
here  represented  are  skilled  trades,  and  require  extended 
training  for  their  acquisition.  This  fact  alone  would  prob- 
ably have  closed  the  trades  even  at  the  present  time  to  the 
mass  of  negro  workmen.  By  reasonable  estimates  there 
are  probably  not  more  than  fifty  negro  railway  clerks,  rail- 
way telegraphers,  or  commercial  telegraphers  in  the  United 
States.  If  the  same  proportion  of  negroes  were  fairly  well 
maintained  in  the  other  trades  in  this  group,  it  would  be 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  it  is  not  the  immediate  menace 
of  cheaper  negro  labor  which  accounts  for  the  discrimina- 
tion. It  is  true  that  the  Railway  Carmen  and  the  Main- 
tenance-of-Way  Employees  have  experienced  in  some  parts 
of  the  country  considerable  competition  from  negroes.  A 
reasonable  estimate  places  the  number  of  negro  carmen  at 
about  three  thousand,  and  in  the  future  this  grade  of  work 
may  be  expected  to  be  performed  by  negroes  in  increasing 
degree.  But  conditions  similar  to  these  do  not  exist  in  the 
other  trades.  Negroes  are  not  only  discouraged,  for  ex- 
ample, from  taking  up  the  occupations  of  boiler  maker, 
engineer,  wire  weaver,  or  window  glass  blower  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  acquiring  the  necessary  training,  but  they  are  ac- 

^  Constitution,  1884,  Art.  II,  Sec.  i. 

^  This  method  is  adopted  on  the  theory  that  a  union  affiliated 
with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  may  not  retain  in  its  con- 
stitution a  discriminatory  clause  against  negroes  (Proceedings, 
Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,  1908,  p.  494;  Ritual,  Machin- 
ists, 1909,  p.  5).     See  also  above,  p.  117. 


575]  Admission  of  Negroes  121 

tually  debarred  from  the  trade  organizations  by  the  strong 
resentment  of  the  trained  workmen  toward  even  a  re- 
motely possible  intrusion  of  inferior  workmen.  Exclusion 
is  also  doubtless  inspired  both  in  the  skilled  occupation  and 
in  the  less  skilled  occupation,  such  as  car-building  and  main- 
tenance-of-way,  by  an  avowed  racial  antipathy  against 
negroes,  based  on  their  undesirability  as  fellow-workmen 
in  the  trade  and  in  the  activities  of  the  trade  organizations. 

The  group  of  national  trade  organizations  which  admit 
negroes,  so  far  as  the  formal  regulations  of  the  union  go, 
include  all  the  remaining  unions.  However,  a  mere 
array  of  national  unions  whose  regulations  permit  or 
do  not  forbid  negroes  to  become  members  is  not  con- 
clusive of  the  fact  that  negroes  are  admitted  to  mem- 
bership on  application.  In  fact,  this  group  of  unions 
must  be  further  subdivided  into  two  more  or  less  clearly 
defined  classes  according  to  whether  or  not,  in  the  light  of 
actual  experience,  negroes  are  permitted  to  become  members. 

In  the  group  which  admits  negroes  we  find  first  a  class 
of  unions  representing  more  or  less  skilled  trades  for  en- 
trance into  which  the  technical  or  other  trade  requirements 
have  not  been  favorable  to  negroes.  Yet  the  regulations 
of  the  national  unions  permit  negroes  to  gain  admission. 
For  example,  the  requirements  for  entering  successfully  the 
printing  and  allied  trades  are  very  difficult  of  attaimnent 
by  the  ordinary  negro  mechanic.  To  perform  satisfactorily 
the  work  of  a  compositor,  a  pressman,  or  a  linotype  operator, 
mechanical  skill  and  intellectual  capacity  are  required  which 
only  a  small  percentage  of  negroes  seem  to  possess.  The 
national  unions  in  these  trades  have  never  prescribed  a  color 
qualification  for  admission.  Again,  iron  molding  aflfords 
a  long-standing  illustration  of  a  skilled  trade  into  wdiich 
negroes  have  rarely  entered,  and  from  which  the  union  has 
never  debarred  negroes.  Other  trades,  such  as  pottery 
making,  glass  blowing,  hat  making,  and  boot  and  shoe  mak- 
ing, have  rarely  given  employment  to  negro  journeymen, 
although  the  national  trade  unions  have  never  denied  ad- 


122  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions         [S7^ 

mission  to  negroes.  The  unions  of  this  first  class  in  the 
admitting  group  have,  as  national  organizations,  thus  re- 
mained practically  indifferent  or  passively  favorable  to  the 
unionization  and  admission  of  negroes.  This  has  been  their 
attitude  because  of  the  fact  that  the  number  of  negroes  in 
the  trades  has  necessarily  remained  small.^  The  unions 
have  not  made  regulations  restricting  the  admission  of 
negroes,  but  the  number  of  negro  members  is  small.^ 

While  negroes  have  not  been  engaged  to  any  considerable 
extent  in  the  mechanical  industries,  certain  other  groups  of 
occupations  have  from  the  beginning  afforded  them  favor- 
able employment.  It  has  been  seen  that  negro  laborers 
competed  with  the  longshoremen  and  with  building  labor- 
ers in  various  parts  of  the  country  in  the  years  following 
the  Civil  War,  The  occupations  which  at  that  time  were 
open  or  have  since  gradually  opened  to  the  employment  of 
negroes  for  the  most  part  represent  semi-skilled  or  un- 
skilled operations  for  which  the  supply  of  negro  labor  has 
been  readily  available.  Negroes  are  engaged  in  consider- 
able numbers  as  tobacco  workers,  coopers,  longshore- 
men, freight  handlers,  bakers  and  confectionery  work- 
ers, barbers,  team  drivers,  miners,  sailors,  musicians,  hotel 
and  restaurant  employees,  foundry  workers,  pavers,  hod- 
carriers,  and  as  workers  in  certain  of  the  building  trades, 
particularly  as  cement  workers,  plasterers,  slate  and  tile 
roofers,  wood,  wire,  and  metal  lathers,  and  metal  workers. 
The  national  unions  within  the  trades  enumerated  above,  in 

^The  census  of  1900  showed  that  the  number  of  negro  printers, 
lithographers,  and  pressmen  was  only  1221.  In  1908  the  number  of 
negro  molders  in  the  United  States  was  estimated  at  800  (Iron 
Molders'  Journal,  August,  igo8,  p.  577). 

*  Estimates  by  union  officials  show  the  number  of  negro  members 
in  the  unions  to  be  as  follows:  Printers,  about  250;  Pressmen,  less 
than  6;  Lithographers,  i;  Photo-Engravers,  less  than  6;  Steel  and 
Tin  Workers,  2  or  3;  Potters,  none;  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,  none; 
Hatters,  none;  Molders,  12;  Organ  Workers,  i;  Theatrical  Stage 
Employees,  4;  Pattern  Makers,  i;  Glass  Workers,  "a  few  negro 
members;"  Wood  Workers,  "  a  few;"  Broom  and  Whisk  Makers,  6; 
United  Brewery  Workers,  less  than  10;  Granite  Cutters,  3  or  4; 
Elevator  Constructors,  "  a  few ;"  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers,  50,  and 
Metal  Polishers,  i. 


577]  Admission  of  Negroes  123 

which  a  noticeable  proportion  of  negro  labor  is  employed, 
have  actively  approved  and  substantially  supported  the  ad- 
mission and  organization  of  negroes.^  The  labor  leaders  in 
any  trade  do  not  usually  oppose  the  inclusion  of  negroes 
in  the  labor  movement  when  once  they  have  become  a 
definite  element  of  the  labor  supply  in  the  trade. 

Different  unions  have  pursued  the  admission  policy  by 
different  methods  and  with  varying  results.  The  leaders  of 
the  labor  movement  in  the  late  sixties  endorsed  the  plan  of 
separate  organizations  for  negro  workmen.  This  plan  was 
used  first  by  the  Coopers  and  the  Cigar  Makers.  The 
American  Federation  of  Labor  supports  the  movement  for 
unionizing  negroes  by  affiliating  separate  negro  unions. 
National  unions  ordinarily  also  permit  and  encourage  the 
chartering  of  separate  negro  local  unions.  This  method 
secures  for  both  races  the  advantages  of  organization  with- 
out the  disadvantage  of  mixed  unions.  The  Teamsters,  the 
Barbers,  the  Bartenders,  the  Bakers,  the  Freight  Handlers, 
the  Cigar  Makers,  the  Tobacco  Workers,  the  ^Musicians,  the 
Plasterers,  the  Painters,  the  Bricklayers,  the  Molders,  the 
Carpenters,  the  Coopers,  the  Lathers,  the  Foundry  Em- 
ployees, and  the  Pavers  have  approved  of  the  organization 
of  negroes  by  admitting  them  to  membership  in  mixed  as 
well  as  in  separate  local  unions.  Mixed  unions  may  usually 
be  found  in  any  national  union  which  charters  separate 
negro  unions,  for  the  national  pact  binds  each  local  union 
to  accept  the  transferred  members  of  another  local  union. 
The  Cement  Workers"  and  the  Slate  and  Tile  Roofers,^ 
however,  stipulate  that  the  members  of  a  negro  local  union 
may  transfer  only  to  a  negro  local  union.* 

^  See  Official  Journal  of  the  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paper- 
hangers,  August,  1902,  p.  ig8;  April,  1903,  p.  215;  August,  1906, 
p.  506;  The  Carpenter.  January,  1903,  p.  3;  April,  1903,  pp.  6-7; 
Report  of  President,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1904,  p.  218;  and 
Report  of  Secretary,  1905,  p.  353. 

'Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XII,  Sec.  11. 

'  Statement  of  national  secretary  made  in  interview  with  the 
writer. 

^Statistics  of  the  number  of  negro  unionists  are  not  kept  by  the 
unions.     Estimates  in  1910  by  union  officials  as  to  the  number  of 


124  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [57^ 

The  national  unions  promote  organization  of  negroes  in 
separate  and  in  mixed  unions  by  repeated  advocacy  of  the 
admission  policy,  and  by  directing  and  requiring,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  local  unions  to  admit  negro  applicants  without 
discrimination  in  all  disputed  cases.  A  typical  statement  of 
policy  is  that  of  the  Tobacco  Workers  that  they  "  will  draw 
no  line  of  distinction  between  creed,  color  or  nationality."^ 
The  Bricklayers  and  Masons  impose  a  fine  of  one  hundred 
dollars  on  any  local  union  or  any  member  guilty  of  dis- 
crimination against  any  member  by  reason  of  race  or  color. ^ 
The  Operative  Plasterers  impose  a  fine  of  the  same  amount 
upon  a  member  or  members  who,  by  refusing  to  work  with 
another  member  on  account  of  race  or  nationality,  may 
cause  him  to  lose  his  job.^  When  disputed  cases  over  the 
admission  of  negroes  have  been  appealed  to  the  national 
ofificers,  it  is  found  usually  that  the  local  unions  are  directed 
to  admit  the  negro  applicant.  Cases  of  this  character  have 
occurred  frequently,  for  example  in  the  Journeymen  Bar- 
bers' International  Union,*  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Car- 
penters and  Joiners,^  the  Painters  and  Decorators,^  and 
the  Bricklayers  and  Masons.'^ 

The  general  attitude  of  such  national  unions  as  have  the 
negro  question  to  deal  with  is  shown  in  the  following  typical 
statement  of  policy  by  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  execu- 
tive board:  "  The  colored  bricklayer  of  the  south  is  going  to 

negro  members  of  mixed  and  separate  local  unions  in  the  national 

organizations  having  probably  the  largest  negro  membership  were 
as  follows:  United  Mine  Workers,  "probably  40,000;"  Cigar 
Makers.  5000;  Hotel,  Restaurant  and  Bar  Employees,  2500;  Team- 
sters, 6000;  Carpenters'  United  Brotherhood,  2500.  In  1903  the 
Freight  Handlers  had  400  negro  members,  and  the  Barbers  1000 
(Report,  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1903,  p.  193;  The  Bar- 
bers' Journal,  1903,  p.  57). 

^  Constitution,  1900,  Resolutions,  p.  47 ;  Constitution,  1905,  Reso- 
lutions, p.  47. 

"Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XVI,  Sec.  2,  CI.  11. 

^  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  19. 

*The  Barbers'  Journal,  April,  1903,  p.  215. 

'The  Carpenter,  March,  1903,  p.  57. 

*  Official  Journal  of  the  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers, 
January,  1903,  p.  3. 

^  Proceedings,  1905,  p.  48. 


579]  Admission  of  Negroes  125 

lay  brick,  whether  we  take  them  under  our  care  or  not,  and 
this  fact  being  conceded,  the  Board  maintains  that  his  proper 
place  is  within  our  fold.  .  .  .  The  Board  objects  to  the  color 
line  being  drawn  and  put  up  as  a  bar  to  keep  these  people 
from  becoming  Union  men  .  .  ,  and  maintains  that  where 
the  colored  bricklayer  or  mason  is  not  allowed  into  mem- 
bership with  the  white  bricklayer  or  mason,  he  must,  where 
sufficient  numbers  warrant  it,  be  granted  the  right  to  organ- 
ize into  a  separate  Union."^  The  national  unions,  further- 
more, through  the  work  of  their  general  organizers,  are 
directly  bringing  negroes  into  membership.^  The  Painters 
and  Decorators^  and  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters 
and  Joiners*  have  employed  special  colored  organizers  to 
form  negro  unions.  In  1906  the  president  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Painters  and  Decorators  stated  the  conditions 
which  warranted  an  organizing  campaign  as  follows: 
"  The  colored  painters  of  the  South  are  numerous,  and 
upon  their  organization  largely  depends  the  possibility  of 
obtaining  better  conditions,  not  only  for  themselves  but  for 
the  white  painters  also." 

Ordinarily  the  unimpeded  admission  of  negroes  can  be 
had  only  where  the  local  white  unionists  are  favorable. 
Consequently,  racial  antipathy  and  economic  motive  may, 
in  any  particular  community,  nullify  the  policies  of  the 
national  union.  Various  instances  of  local  discrimination 
against  negroes  have  arisen  which  excluded  them  from 
membership  (i)  by  denying  them  admission  to  the  union 
of  the  whites,  or  (2)  by  refusing  consent  to  charter  a  sep- 
arate negro  local  union,  or  (3)  by  rejecting  a  negro  appli- 
cant holding  a  transfer  card. 

(i)  Denial  of  admission  to  white  local  unions  is  probably 
the  commonest  cause  operating  to  exclude  negroes.  In 
1893  ^"  independent  local  union  of  bricklayers  in  Philadel- 

^  Report  of  President,   1902.  Case  No.  58,  pp.  291-294. 

'Report  of  President,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1904,  Case  No. 
62,  p.  218. 

^Official  Journal  of  the  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers, 
August,  1906,  p.  506. 

*  The  Carpenter,  January,  1903,  p.  3. 


126  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [580 

phia  refused  to  affiliate  with  the  national  union  because  of 
unwillingness  to  forego  its  practice  of  excluding  negroes.^ 
In  1902  the  local  union  of  bricklayers  of  Dallas,  which  for 
two  years  or  more  had  debarred  negroes,  was  ordered  to 
eliminate  the  color  membership  qualification  from  its  con- 
stitution.- A  case  of  similar  exclusion  by  a  local  union 
in  Sumter,  South  Carolina,  was  disapproved  by  the  national 
union  in  1904.^  In  1903  a  number  of  negro  carpenters  were 
unable  to  gain  admission  into  the  local  union  of  Atlantic 
City,  and  a  similar  situation  developed  in  Birmingham,  Ala- 
bama. The  United  Brotherhood  was  without  power  to 
effect  a  remedy,  and  only  recommended  to  the  local  unions 
that  "  as  far  as  our  brotherhood  is  concerned  the  drawing 
of  the  color  line  should  be  stopped  at  once  and  for  all  time."* 
In  1908  four  negro  molders  were  denied  admission  into  the 
local  union  of  Indianapolis.^  The  national  secretary  of  the 
Operative  Plasterers  states  that  negro  plasterers  could  not 
gain  admission  to  the  Pittsburgh  local  union,  or  to  local 
unions  in  many  other  places,  particularly  in  the  South.  The 
secretary  of  the  National  Federation  of  Post  Office  Clerks 
states  that  sixteen  negro  applicants  who  could  not  secure 
membership  in  the  white  local  unions  of  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
were  chartered  as  a  separate  local  union. 

(2)  Local  opposition  to  negro  members  does  not,  how- 
ever, always  end  with  denying  admission  to  negro  appli- 
cants.** The  granting  of  separate  charters  for  negro  work- 
men has  at  times  also  been  opposed,  and  has  occasioned 
considerable  friction  in  some  trades.  This  has  been  made 
possible  by  the  fact  that  jurisdiction  over  a  specified  terri- 
tory has  long  reserved  to  a  local  union  the  right  to  refuse 

^  Report  of  President,  1893,  p.  90. 

'  Report  of  Secretary,  1902,  p.  347. 

'  Report  of  President,  1904,  p.  96. 

*  The  Carpenter,  January,  1903,  p.  3. 

"Iron  Holders'  Journal,  May,  1908,  p.  371. 

'  A  member  of  the  plumbers'  local  union  of  Norfolk,  Va.,  in  1905 
commended  a  state  law  passed  in  that  year  for  licensing  plumbers, 
on  the  ground  that  it  would  eliminate  negroes  from  the  trade 
(Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  May,  1905, 
p.  16). 


58 1]  Admission  of  Negroes  127 

its  consent  to  charter  another  local  union  in  the  locality. 
Thus,  for  example,  in  1875  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons 
amended  the  law  under  which  charters  were  granted  so  that 
no  charter  should  be  granted  in  a  place  without  the  consent 
of  the  existing  local  union.^  Under  this  rule  (and  this  is 
similar  to  rules  in  many  unions)  white  local  unions  can 
not  only  refuse  to  admit  negroes  but  can  prevent  the  char- 
tering of  a  separate  negro  local  union.  As  early  as  1870  the 
president  of  the  Bricklayers'  Union  had  recommended  that 
the  question  of  empowering  the  national  union  to  issue  char- 
ters to  societies  of  colored  bricklayers  should  be  decided, 
although  at  that  time  no  application  for  such  charters  had 
been  received.^  A  proposal  to  organize  the  negro  having 
been  voted  down  in  1876,  no  further  action  was  taken,  until 
in  1883  and  1884  the  national  president  again  proposed 
that  separate  charters  should  be  issued  to  negroes  when 
deemed  advisable  by  the  executive  board. ^  The  question 
was  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  subordinate  unions,  and 
approved  by  a  substantial  majority,  but  opposition  to  char- 
tering separate  unions  was  still  so  strong  that  the  general 
secretary  reported  that  "  through  a  mutual  understanding 
between  the  members  of  the  executive  board  it  was  deemed 
best  not  to  exercise  the  power  vested  in  them.'"*  In  1902 
the  refusal  of  the  white  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  local 
unions  in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
to  consent  to  charter  a  separate  negro  local  union  in  each  of 
these  cities  again  drew  the  attention  of  the  national  union. 
In  1903  the  union  provided  that  when  a  subordinate  union 
refused  to  consent  to  the  granting  of  a  charter  to  a  new  local 
union  simply  on  account  of  race,  nationality,  or  religion,  the 
executive  board  should  have  discretionary  power  to  grant 
the  charter.^ 

^  Proceedings,  1875,  p.  39. 

*  Proceedings,  1870,  p.  37. 

'Proceedings,  1876,  p.  9;  Proceedings,  1883,  p.  14;  Proceedings, 
1884.  p.  7. 

*  Proceedings,  1884,  p.  21. 

"Constitution,   1903,  Art.   13,  Sec.   i;  Report  of   President,   1902, 
PP-  153,  290-294. 


128  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions         [582 

The  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  in 
1886  modified  its  rules  so  that  more  than  one  charter  might 
be  issued  in  the  same  locality  provided  the  existing  local 
union  offered  no  reasonable  objection.^  Although  the 
Cigar  Makers'  International  Union  removed  the  color  qual- 
ification from  its  rules  in  1879,  the  local  unions  remained 
free  to  debar  negro  applicants  and  to  prevent  the  forma- 
tion of  separate  negro  local  unions.  At  the  president's 
recommendation  in  1893  the  rule  was  changed,  giving  the 
national  executive  board  discretionary  power  to  form  new 
local  unions  in  any  place.^  Other  national  unions,  such  as 
for  example  the  Painters,  the  Sheet  Metal  Workers,  the 
Plumbers,  the  Stationary  Firemen,  the  Coopers,  the  Foun- 
dry Employees,  and  the  Tailors,  require  the  consent  of  an 
existing  local  union  before  a  second  local  union  may  be 
formed  in  any  locality.  By  this  means  negroes  may  be 
prevented  from  organizing,  and  the  policy  of  the  national 
unions  may  be  disregarded  by  the  prejudice  of  a  local 
union.^ 

(3)  Finally,  local  antagonism  may  discourage  the  union- 
izing of  negroes  through  the  refusal  of  certain  local  unions 
to  accept  the  transfer  cards  of  travelling  negro  members.* 
It  is  impossible  to  measure  or  to  know  the  extent  to  which 
this  form  of  discrimination  actually  prevails.  The  national 
agreement  presumably  binds  each  local  union  to  admit  the 
transferred  members  of  all  the  other  local  unions,  except 
that  in  the  Electrical  Workers,  the  Bridge  and  Structural 
Iron  Workers,  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  the  Carpenters, 

^  Constitution,  1886,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  3. 

^  Proceedings,  1893,  pp.  5,  34. 

^  In  1902  a  local  union  of  negro  stationary  firemen  in  Chicago 
could  not  be  chartered  because  the  white  local  union  would  not 
give  its  consent  (Stationary  Firemen's  Journal,  April,  1902,  p.  5). 

The  secretary  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators  and 
Paperhangers  states  that  the  painters'  local  union  of  Tampa,  Fla., 
has  refused  for  several  years  to  consent  to  grant  a  charter  to  a 
separate  local  union  of  negroes,  and  that  the  same  condition  ob- 
tains in  Memphis,  Tenn. 

*  In  most  unions  an  appeal  may  be  taken  by  a  rejected  negro 
applicant,  or  by  a  negro  member  whose  card  is  not  accepted,  to  the 
national  officers  or  to  the  national  convention.     See  above,  p.  30. 


583]  Admission  of  Negroes  129 

the  Plumbers,  the  Steam  Fitters,  and  the  Steam  Engineers 
workmen  with  travelling  cards  may  be  rejected  when  con- 
sidered incompetent.^  Under  the  guise  of  a  test  for  com- 
petency, negro  travelling  members  may  be  excluded  from 
those  trades.  Instances  of  discrimination  have  occurred, 
however,  without  the  pretext  of  incompetency  as  a  justifi- 
cation of  exclusion. 

In  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  International  Union  the 
question  whether  a  negro  member  must  be  accepted  by 
another  local  union  was  at  first  decided  in  favor  of  local 
union  discretion;  more  recently  the  union  has  on  several 
occasions  enforced  the  recognition  of  a  negro's  travelling 
card.-  A  rule  imposing  a  fine  for  discrimination  on  account 
of  race  has  been  adopted  and  at  times  enforced.  Thus,  in 
1903,  a  negro  bricklayer  with  a  transfer  card  was  discrim- 
inated against  by  the  Indianapolis  union.  Although  the 
card  was  accepted,  the  members  as  individuals  quit  work 
on  the  job  when  the  negro  went  to  work.  He  appealed 
to  the  national  union,  and  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars  was 
placed  upon  the  local  union.'  In  1904  the  Louisville,  Cin- 
cinnati, and  Indianapolis  local  unions  of  Bricklayers  and 
Masons  each  debarred  a  negro  unionist  with  a  card.*  The 
national  secretary  in  1905  expressed  the  opinion  that  dis- 
crimination against  negroes  had  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
organization,  and  advocated  a  liberal  policy.^  Instances  of 
refusal  to  accept  a  transfer  card  from  a  negro  have  occurred 
in  the  Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers  and  in  the 
United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  but  have 

*  See  above,  p.  73. 
'Proceedings,  1881,  pp.  7,  26. 

'Report  of  President,  1903,  pp.  11-16;  Proceedings,  1905,  p.  48; 
Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XVI,  Sec.  2. 

*  Report  of  President,  1904,  p.  218. 

• "  Capita]  knows  no  creed,  nationality',  or  race,  where  its  interests 
are  concerned,  and  we  as  a  large,  influential  and  intelligent  body  of 
working  men  must  be  guided  in  the  same  footsteps.  Unless  we  are 
prepared  to  do  this,  and  accord  them  [negroes]  every  protection  in 
an  economic  sense,  the  spirit  of  resentment  .  .  .  will  grow  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  white  bricklayer  will 
be  placed  in  jeopardy  whenever  trouble  with  employers  takes  place" 
(Report  of  President  and  Secretary,  1905,  p.  353). 


130  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [5^4 

rarely  been  appealed  to  the  national  unions.^  Owing  to 
the  racial  character  of  the  antagonism  and  to  the  relatively 
small  risk  from  negro  competition  in  most  trades,  it  seems 
safe  to  assert  that  negroes  with  cards  of  admission  may  in 
a  majority  of  unions-  be  rejected  at  the  discretion  of  any 
local  union,  although  such  rejection  violates  the  national 
agreement  and  often  contravenes  the  policy  of  the  national 
union.^ 

All  available  estimates  of  the  number  of  negroes  in  par- 
ticular national  unions  indicate  that  negro  mechanics  and 
laborers  form  but  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  total  trade- 
union  membership  of  the  country.  Only  six  national 
unions — the  United  Mine  Workers,  the  Teamsters,  the  Cigar 
Makers,  the  Hotel,  Restaurant  and  Bar  Employees,  the 
United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  and  the 
Barbers — are  estimated  to  have  each  more  than  one  thousand 
negro  members.*  Of  other  unions  having  less  than  a  thousand 
members  a  large  number  are  reported  as  having  even  less 
than  a  hundred.^  The  small  extent  of  negro  membership  is 
further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  in  New  Jersey  in  1903 
only  54  negroes  were  reported  as  holding  membership  in 
trade  organizations  with  white  men,  and  that  in  1906  there 

^  A  local  union  of  Carpenters  in  1905  refused  to  admit  a  negro 
member  with  a  card  from  the  Boston  local  union.  Similarly,  in 
1908  the  Baltimore  Painters  refused  to  accept  two  negroes  with 
cards  from  a  local  union  in  Mississippi. 

^  A  national  officer  of  the  Steam  Engineers,  the  Sheet  Metal 
Workers,  and  the  Molders  stated  to  the  writer  that  negroes  with 
cards  would  not  have  to  be  accepted  by  local  unions. 

^  Discrimination  rests  generally  on  a  combination  of  economic  and 
racial  grounds.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  sectional,  although  there 
may  be  more  discrimination  in  Southern  cities  than  in  Northern. 
There  are,  however,  relatively  fewer  negroes  proportionately  to 
total  population  in  Northern  cities.  In  cases  referred  to  above  it 
has  been  seen  that  in  Connecticut  in  the  late  sixties  negroes  were 
not  wanted  in  the  unions.  In  1893  an  independent  local  union  of 
Bricklayers  and  Masons  in  Philadelphia  was  kept  out  of  the  Inter- 
national Union  because  its  constitution  contained  this  clause :  "  No 
person  of  color  shall  be  admitted  to  membership  in  this  Associa- 
tion "  (Report  of  President,  1893,  p.  90).  Instances  of  discrimina- 
tion are  found  in  Indianapolis,  Cincinnati,  Baltimore,  and  Philadel- 
phia, as  well  as  in  Tampa,  Dallas,  Memphis,  and  Charleston. 

*  See  above,  p.  123,  n.  4. 

"  See  above,  p.  122,  n.  2. 


585]  Admission  of  Negroes  131 

were  only  1388  negro  unionists  in  New  York  City,  or  a 
little  over  5  per  cent,  of  the  estimated  male  negro  working 
population.^  The  fact  that  negroes  thus  form  only  an  in- 
significant proportion  of  the  body  of  organized  laborers  has 
resulted  from  several  contributing  causes. 

In  the  first  place,  the  negro  population  is  relatively  small 
in  the  North  where  unionism  is  strongest.  During  the 
forty  years  from  i860  to  1900  the  percentage  of  negroes  in 
the  total  population  of  the  North  has  remained  about  the 
same;  in  the  former  year  the  negro  element  was  1.7  per 
cent,  and  in  the  latter,  1.8  per  cent.^  Consequently,  the 
number  of  negro  unionists  would  be  expected  to  remain 
small  relative  to  the  whole  negro  population  of  the  country. 

Secondly,  by  long-prevailing  custom,  due  in  part  to  indi- 
vidual inclination,  in  part  to  economic  circumstance,  negroes 
have  largely  confined  themselves  in  the  South  to  agricultural 
pursuits  and  in  the  North  to  personal  and  domestic  service. 
Workers  within  these  grades  of  labor  do  not  maintain 
trade  unions.  The  character  of  their  occupations  is,  there- 
fore, such  as  to  exclude  the  mass  of  negroes  from  labor 
organizations. 

Coming  directly  to  the  question  why  there  is  a  notable 
lack  of  organization  among  negro  workmen  engaged  in 
the  organized  trades,  we  find  that  the  situation  has  evoked 
at  least  three  distinct  explanations.  First,  the  inefficiency 
of  the  negroes  as  workmen  has  been  advanced  as  an  ex- 
planation of  their  unorganized  condition.  It  is  asserted  that 
habits  of  mind  and  body  tend  to  make  the  negro  an  un- 
steady workman,  and  that  he  does  not,  therefore,  become 
a  reliable  unionist.  Opinion  is,  however,  conflicting  and 
testimony  contradictory  as  to  the  competency  and  loyalty  of 
negroes  as  union  workmen.  It  may  certainly  not  be  con- 
cluded that  negroes  employed  in  the  organized  trades  re- 

^  Report  of  New  Jersey  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  1903,  pp.  211- 
212;  Annals  of  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
May,  1906,  p.  551. 

'  Wright,  "  The  Migration  of  Negroes  to  the  North,"  in  Annals  of 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  May,  1906, 
P-  572. 


132  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [586 

main  unorganized  because  of  inefficiency,  since  they  are 
sufficiently  competent  to  be  employed  in  many  of  these 
trades,  and  since  in  certain  trades  in  particular  places  they 
are  admitted  to  union  membership.  For  example,  consider- 
able numbers  of  negroes  are  employed  as  machinists  and  car 
workers,  but  they  do  not  become  members  of  the  unions  in 
these  trades.  The  reason  is  evidently  not  that  they  are  in- 
competent to  perform  the  work.  Again,  colored  bricklay- 
ers, painters,  carpenters,  longshoremen,  and  cigar  makers 
have  been  admitted  into  the  unions  in  certain  localities, 
while  in  other  instances  they  have  been  excluded.  This 
diverging  practice  must  likewise  be  explained  on  other 
ground  than  that  of  the  inefficiency  of  negro  workmen. 
But  whether  or  not  the  negro  workman  can  become  as  com- 
petent as  the  white  mechanic,  he  has  usually  hitherto  en- 
gaged in  the  less  skilled  ranks  of  employment  where  unions 
are  less  frequent  or  are  poorly  maintained.  The  unions  re- 
porting the  largest  negro  membership,  such  as  the  United 
Mine  Workers,  the  Cigar  Makers,  the  Teamsters,  and  the 
Barbers,  represent  semi-skilled  or  unskilled  trades.  While, 
therefore,  a  low  standard  of  workmanship  among  negroes 
as  a  class  has  necessarily  tended  to  confine  them  within 
certain  trades  or  grades  of  labor,  it  is  inadequate  to  state 
that  negroes  remain  outside  the  unions  in  whatever  trades 
they  may  engage  because  of  their  inefficiency  as  workmen. 
Racial  difference  which  is  felt  and  recognized  by  work- 
men of  all  grades  is  a  second  element  which  in  part  explains 
the  lack  of  organization  among  negroes.  It  is  impossible  to 
determine  to  what  extent  race  feeling  is  responsible  and 
effective  in  debarring  negroes  from  trade  unions.  Un- 
doubtedly it  is  a  controlling  consideration  in  those  unions 
which,  like  the  Switchmen,  the  Machinists,  the  Mainte- 
nance-of-Way  Employees,  and  the  Wire  Weavers,  prescribe 
a  color  qualification  for  membership.  The  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  union  leaders  confirm  the  view  that  race  preju- 
dice is  a  chief  ground  of  opposition  to  the  negro.  Cases  of 
local  discrimination  against  negroes  are  largely  inspired  by 


587]  Admission  of  Negroes  133 

race  hostility.  There  are  cases  in  which  negroes  are  ex- 
cluded solely  on  account  of  their  color,  and  there  have 
been  cases  in  which  the  formation  of  separate  unions  for 
negro  workmen  has  been  prevented  by  the  opposition  of  a 
local  white  union. 

But  unions  are  not  responsible  for  race  discrimination, 
nor  do  they  create  and  foster  it.  They  find  that  it  exists, 
and  at  times  acquiesce  in  the  discrimination.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  vast  majority  of  unions  which  have 
to  deal  with  negroes  do  not  prescribe  a  color  qualification 
for  admission,  while  discrimination  by  local  unions  is  usu- 
ally discountenanced  by  the  national  union.  Only  some 
twelve  national  unions,  including  the  Locomotive  Engineers, 
the  Locomotive  Firemen,  the  Switchmen,  the  Maintenance- 
of-Way  Employees,  the  Wire  Weavers,  the  Railroad  Train- 
men, the  Railway  Carmen,  the  Railway  Clerks,  the  Railroad 
Telegraphers,  the  Commercial  Telegraphers,  the  Boiler 
Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders,  and  the  Machinists,  persist 
in  regarding  negroes  as  ineligible  for  membership.  It  is 
difficult  here  to  determine  at  just  what  point  race  prejudice 
ends  and  economic  motive  begins.  But  since  the  number  of 
negroes  engaged  in  these  occupations  is  small,  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  discriminatory  position  of  the  unions  has  its 
ground  largely  in  social  or  racial  antagonism. 

Finally,  economic  motive,  always  hostile  to  any  increase 
in  the  number  of  workers  and  possible  decrease  in  wages, 
has  probably  been  the  strongest  single  factor  in  the  exclu- 
sion of  negroes  from  trade  organizations.  The  desire  to 
maintain  wages,  rather  than  race  prejudice,  in  the  last  analy- 
sis controls  the  acts  and  policies  of  unions.  Experience 
has  taught  union  leaders  that  wages  are  more  securely  main- 
tained by  unionizing  negroes  along  with  other  workers  than 
by  refusing  to  work  with  them.  Thus  the  exclusion  of 
negroes,  enforced  under  union  rule  by  the  Cigar  Makers 
during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  their  organization,  may  be 
contrasted  with  the  present  policy  whereby  the  union  has 
admitted    five    thousand    nes^ro    members.     Lonsfshoremen 


134  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [588 

rioted  in  the  early  sixties  in  New  York  on  account  of  the 
invasion  of  negroes  into  their  field  of  labor,  but  longshore- 
men now  sit  with  negro  delegates  in  regular  attendance  at 
their  annual  conventions.  Furthermore,  the  unions  in  those 
trades  in  which  negroes  are  largely  engaged  either  advocate 
or  actively  promote  the  unionization  of  negroes,  although  in 
some  instances  they  are  impeded  in  pursuing  a  consistent 
policy  by  the  acts  of  particular  local  unions. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SEVERANCE  OF  MEMBERSHIP 

The  right  of  any  voluntary  association  to  determine  its 
membership  and  to  regulate  the  conduct  and  action  of  each 
member  in  so  far  as  such  action  affects  the  common  interest 
may  warrant  a  union  in  compelling  any  member  under  cer- 
tain contingencies  to  sever  active  membership.  Three 
forms  of  severance  of  membership  are  employed:  (i)  with- 
drawal, (2)  suspension,  (3)  expulsion. 

(i)  Withdrawal. — A  workman  quitting  a  trade  may  ob- 
tain from  any  union  a  withdrawal  card  certifying  that  all 
indebtedness  is  paid  and  entitling  the  holder  to  reinstate- 
ment at  any  time.  A  workman  who  advances  to  the  posi- 
tion of  foreman,  employer,  contractor,  or  stockholder  may, 
however,  be  required  to  withdraw.  In  1872  the  Iron 
Molders  made  provision  for  issuing  an  honorary  card,  at  the 
discretion  of  any  local  union,  to  a  workman  becoming  a 
foreman.^  Among  the  Molders  the  fear  of  the  foreman 
continued  to  be  shown  from  time  to  time.  At  the  session 
of  the  union  in  1876  a  resolution  was  proposed  debarring 
foremen  from  local  union  meetings.  Since  1886  a  fine 
ranging  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  dollars  has  been  pro- 
vided for  any  foreman  using  his  position  to  the  detriment 
of  the  union.  Fines  for  this  offense  were  imposed  by  the 
Richmond  local  union  in  1891  and  by  the  Pittsburgh  union 

*The  International  Journal, _  October,  1873,  pp.  135-136.  The 
American  Federation  of  Musicians  in  1898  provided  that  whenever 
any  member  enlisted  in  the  army  or  navy  his  membership  should 
become  null  and  void  (Constitution,  1898,  Standing  Resolution  No. 
8,  p.  20).  The  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers  in  1906  adopted 
a  rule  requiring  any  member  joining  the  militia  to  withdraw  from 
the  union  (Constitution,  1906,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  16).  The  United 
Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  since  1886  have  provided  for  excluding 
any  member  who  engages  in  the  sale  of  liquor  (Constitution,  1886, 
Art.  XIX,  Sec.  i;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  138). 


136  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [59^ 

in  1893.^  Finally,  in  1895,  the  union  decided  to  require  any 
foreman  molder  to  withdraw  from  membership.^ 

Prior  to  1889  the  Cigar  Makers  debarred  foremen.  At 
that  time  a  foreman  having  less  than  two  journeymen  under 
him  might  remain  a  member.  Since  1893  the  union  has  ex- 
cluded a  foreman  only  when  he  employs  more  than  six 
workmen.^  Other  unions  which  exclude  foremen  include 
the  Garment  Workers/  the  Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers,^ 
the  Tobacco  Workers,^  the  Print  Cutters,'^  the  Tin  Plate 
Workers,®  the  Metal  Polishers,  Buffers,  Platers  and  Brass 
Workers,^  and  the  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers.^"  The  Pav- 
ing Cutters,^^  the  Brewery  Workers,^^  and  the  Upholster- 
ers^^ require  a  foreman  to  withdraw  only  in  case  his  entire 
time  is  employed  in  performing  foremanship  duties,  and 
he  may  not  do  any  journeyman  work.  Some  unions,  such 
as  the  Printers,^*  the  Photo-Engravers,^^  and  the  Marble 
Workers, ^°  require  foremen  to  be  members.  In  other  unions 
local  union  discretion  prevails. 

The  variation  in  practice  with  reference  to  the  member- 
ship of  foremen  may  be  partly  explained  by  the  character  of 
work  in  different  trades  and  by  the  extent  to  which  a  fore- 
man continues  to  work  as  a  journeyman  and  to  associate 
with  the  workmen.     In  the  printing  trades  the  work  and 

^  Constitution,  1886,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  5 ;  Iron  Holders'  Journal, 
July,  1881,  p.  18;  May,  1893,  P-  12. 

^  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  2. 

'Constitution,  1879,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1889,  Art.  IV, 
Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1893,  Art.  V,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1891,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  5. 

"  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  16. 

'  Constitution,  1900,  Sec.  35. 

^  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  4. 

*  Constitution,  1905,  Art.  I,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1905,  Art.  XXXIX,  Sec.  i. 
"  Constitution,  n.  d.,  Art.  XV,  Sec.  3. 

"  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  X,  Sec.  2 ;  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  X, 
Sec.  2. 

"Constitution,  1906,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  8;  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  XI, 
Sec.  8. 

"  Constitution,  1908,  Sec.  103. 

"  General  Laws,  1899,  Sec.  6. 

"General  Laws,  1904,  Sec.  27. 

"  By-Laws,  1905,  Sec.  17. 


59i]  Severance  of  Membership  137 

the  duties  of  a  foreman  usually  keep  him  in  close  touch  with 
the  journeymen.  He  may  indeed  perform  some  of  the 
regular  work  of  a  journeyman.  On  the  other  hand,  a  fore- 
man in  the  steel  trade,  in  tin  plate  mills,  or  in  a  tobacco 
factory  has  a  large  number  of  workmen  of  various  grades 
under  him  with  whom  he  does  not  continue  to  work  in  close 
personal  contact.  The  identity  of  interests  of  foremen  and 
workmen  in  a  measure  ceases  here  to  exist.  The  foreman, 
having  power  to  hire  and  discharge,  becomes  accustomed  to 
conduct  business  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  employer, 
while  unionists  begin  to  doubt  his  allegiance  and  loyalty 
to  the  union  and  desire  his  withdrawal. 

In  certain  trades,  such  as  cigar  making  and  the  building 
trades,  a  very  small  amount  of  capital  is  required  to  begin 
business,  and  workmen  may  pass  readily  to  employing  or 
contracting.  In  such  instances  union  policy  may  regard  the 
membership  of  the  small  employer  as  of  doubtful  advantage 
if  not  undesirable.  The  question  as  to  the  right  of  a  cigar 
manufacturer  or  employer  to  retain  union  membership  was 
first  raised  in  1879.  It  was  then  provided  that  employers 
should  be  debarred.  The  union  decided  in  1885  that  each 
local  union  might  determine  its  own  course.^  In  1889  the 
president  of  the  union  recommended  that  a  manufacturer 
employing  any  journeyman  cigar  maker  should  be  denied 
membership.^  This  recommendation  has  since  been  adopted. 
Since  1890  the  Bakers  have  required  that  any  member  be- 
ginning business  as  an  employer  while  working  at  the  trade 
shall  withdraw  from  the  union.^  The  Barbers  in  1892 
began  requiring  the  exclusion  of  any  barber  who  employed 
journeymen  steadily.'*  Since  1895  the  Lithographers  have 
compelled  any  member  acquiring  stock  in  the  business  to 
withdraw.'     The  Retail  Clerks  demand  the  withdrawal  of  a 

^  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  November,  1879,  p.  i ;  Constitu- 
tion, 1879,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  2;  Constitution,  1885,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  3. 

^Proceedings,  1889,  p.  7;  Constitution,  1889,  Art.  IV;  Constitu- 
tion. 1896  (21st  ed.).  Sec.  64. 

'By-Laws,  1890,  Art.  II,  Sec.  3. 

*  Constitution,  1892,  Art.  VIII,  Sec.  2. 

"  Constitution  of  Subordinate  Associations,  1895,  Art.  I. 


138  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [592 

member  holding  as  much  as  five  hundred  dollars'  worth 
of  paid-up  stock  in  a  mercantile  business.^  In  the  building 
trades  the  unions  ordinarily  permit  local  discretion  as  to  the 
retention  or  exclusion  of  members  who  become  contractors.^ 

A  workman  who  has  desired  or  has  been  required  to 
withdraw  from  membership  for  any  of  the  above  reasons 
does  not,  however,  completely  sever  his  union  connection. 
This  is  shown,  first,  by  the  fact  that  a  withdrawal  card  ordi- 
narily entitles  the  holder  to  reinstatement.^  Second,  by  the 
payment  of  certain  dues  a  member  who  has  withdrawn  may 
receive  friendly  benefits.  Thus,  since  1876  the  Holders 
have  permitted  withdrawn  workmen  to  retain  a  right  to 
union  benefits  by  paying  the  regular  dues.'*  In  1892  the 
Stone  Cutters  granted  to  withdrawn  workmen  a  right  to  the 
funeral  benefit.^  Third,  in  case  of  application  for  rein- 
statement the  workman  is  held  responsible  for  anti-union 
conduct  during  the  term  of  withdrawal.  The  rule  of  the 
Machinists  is  typical :  "  Members  holding  honorary  retiring 
cards  shall  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  International 
Association  of  Machinists  and  liable  to  its  laws  for  violation 
of  its  principles."^  Similarly,  the  Brewery  Workmen  pro- 
vide that  the  card  of  a  withdrawn  member  who  acts  detri- 
mentally to  the  interest  of  the  union  shall  be  null  and  void.'^ 

(2)  Suspension. — A  workman  who  neglects  to  pay  dues, 
fines,  and  assessments  or  who  otherwise  violates  union  reg- 
ulations subjects  himself  to  discipline  in  the  form  of  either 
suspension  or  expulsion.  Temporary  suspension  from  a 
union  is  ordinarily  the  punishment  for  non-payment  of  in- 

^  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  8. 

^Proceedings,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  p.  166;  Constitution, 
Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers,  1898,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  5 ; 
Constitution,  iQio,  Sec.  29. 

*  The  provision  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union,  for 
example,  is :  "  Such  withdrawal  card  shall  reinstate  the  member  in 
lieu  of  initiation  fee  .  .  .  whenever  the  member  secures  work  at 
the  trade"    (Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  93). 

*  Constitution,  1876,  Art.  XVIII,  Sec.  9;  Constitution,  1907,  Art. 
XVII,  Sec.  8. 

"  Constitution,  1892,  Art.  X ;  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  VI. 
'Constitution,  1909,  Art.  X,  Sec.  3. 
^Constitution,  1906.  Art.  VI,  Sec.  11. 


593]  Severance  of  Membership  139 

debtedness  and  for  less  flagrant  violation  of  rules  than  that 
which  brings  expulsion.  The  necessity  for  a  limit  upon 
indebtedness  was  early  recognized.^  The  International 
Union  of  Cigar  Makers  in  1865  provided  that  an  arrearage 
of  three  months  in  dues  should  cause  a  member  to  be  sus- 
pended.^ In  some  cases  the  national  unions  have  prescribed 
a  debt  limit.  Thus  after  1876  the  Molders  required  that  any 
member  owing  $5  at  specified  dates  should  be  suspended.^ 
In  1902  the  Barbers  provided  that  indebtedness  from  any 
cause  to  the  amount  of  $1.20  should  be  cause  for  suspen- 
sion.* The  union  generally  fixes  a  definite  time  beyond 
which  an  arrearage  shall  automatically  suspend  the  debtor. 
Thus,  an  arrearage  of  four  months  suspends  a  member  from 
the  Typographical  Union. °  The  time  varies  from  four 
weeks,  as  in  the  Tobacco  Workers'  International  Union,®  to 
twelve  months — the  limit  enforced  by  the  Granite  Cutters' 
International  Association.'^ 

Suspension  for  indebtedness  is  usually  automatic,  and  re- 
quires no  formal  action  by  the  local  union.  The  Painters, 
Decorators  and  Paperhangers®  and  the  Steam  Fitters*  pro- 
vide that  a  vote  of  the  local  union  shall  not  be  necessary  to 
suspend  a  member  who  owes  three  months'  dues.  The  time 
limit  is  not,  hov/ever,  rigid,  and  an  extension  is  granted  by 
some  unions  in  favor  of  members  out  of  emplo>Tnent  from 
sickness,  strike,  or  disability.  The  Molders  exempt  their  un- 
employed and  disabled  members  from  dues.^**  The  Plumbers 
likewise  prohibit  any  local  union  from  suspending  a  member 

*  The  Stone  Cutters'  Union  of  Chicago,  in  July,  1857,  adopted  a 
resolution  to  strike  against  certain  delinquents  in  arrears  for  over 
three  months  "  who  for  a  long  time  had  baffled  the  Association " 
by    not    paying    monthly    dues    (Stone    Cutters'    Circular,    August, 

1857,  p.  3)- 

*  Constitution  for  Local  Unions,  1865,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2. 
'Constitution,  1876,  Art.  XII,  Sec.  5. 

*  Constitution  (in  effect  January  i,  1902),  Sec.  77. 
"Proceedings,  1909,  p.  201. 

'Constitution,  1900,  Sec.  iii;  Constitution,  1905,  Sec.  43. 
^  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  66. 

*  Constitution,  1908,  Sec.  46. 
'Constitution,  1906,  Sec.  113. 

"  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  10. 


140  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [594 

during  sickness,  strike,  or  lockout/  The  Tobacco  Workers 
extend  the  time  Hmit  to  twelve  weeks  in  the  case  of  unem- 
ployed members. - 

A  few  unions  purposely  avoid  expulsion  as  a  mode  of 
discipline  for  even  the  most  serious  infraction  of  regula- 
tions, and  punish  the  offender  by  fine  and  suspension.  The 
Bricklayers  and  Masons  thus  provided  in  1897  that  it  should 
not  be  lawful  for  a  local  union  to  expel  a  member.  The 
offender  could  only  be  "  fined  and  to  stand  suspended  or 
dropped  from  membership  until  paid."^  The  Metal  Polish- 
ers, BulTers,  Platers  and  Brass  Workers'  International 
Union  for  two  years  prior  to  1900  refused  to  expel  mem- 
bers.* Since  1904  the  Wood  Workers  have  enforced  sus- 
pension with  fines  as  the  severest  penalty.^  The  prefer- 
ence for  suspension  as  a  form  of  discipline  is  due  partly  to 
a  feeling  that  expulsion  is  often  too  severe  a  punishment  and 
partly  to  fear  of  litigation  in  the  courts  in  cases  of  expulsion. 

Ordinarily,  however,  unions  employ  suspension,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  use  as  a  discipline  for  indebtedness,  to  punish 
members  for  violations  less  serious  than  those  which  cause 
expulsion.  Thus  the  International  Molders'  Union  since 
1895  has  required  any  local  union  to  punish  an  infraction 
of  the  rules  by  reprimand,  suspension,  or  expulsion,  accord- 
ing to  the  seriousness  of  the  offense.^  Offenses  which  entail 
suspension  are  not  usually  specifically  enumerated,  but  are 
stated  only  in  general  terms,  as  for  example  participation  in 
unsanctioned  strikes,'^  dishonesty  in  handling  union  funds, 
anti-union  conduct,  and  excessive  use  of  liquor.^ 

^  Constitution,  1908,  Sec.  158. 

*  Constitution,  1905,  Sec.  43. 

'Constitution,  1897,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  3,  CI.  5;  Constitution,  1908, 
Art.  XVI,  Sec.  2,  CI.  10. 

*  Proceedings,  1900,  p.  15. 

^  Constitution,  1904,  Sec.  78. 

"  Proceedings,  1895,  p.  95. 

'  Thus  the  Molders'  International  Union  in  1907  made  it  manda- 
tory upon  the  president  and  executive  board  to  suspend  any  member 
participating  in  an  unsanctioned  strike  (Iron  Holders'  Journal, 
September,  1907,  p.  652;  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  3). 

*The  Switchmen's  Union  requires  the  suspension  after  a  trial  of 
any  member  "  guilty  of  drunkenness  or  other   immoral  conduct " 


595]  Severance  of  Membership  141 

A.  suspended  member  loses  for  a  time  the  social  privileges, 
financial  benefits,  and  employment  opportunities  afforded 
by  the  union.  The  period  of  suspension  may  be  definitely 
fixed.  Thus  the  Switchmen/  the  Brewery  Workmen,^  and 
the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers^  permit  the  local  unions  to  impose 
a  stated  term  of  suspension,  only  after  which  may  the  work- 
man be  reinstated.  In  most  unions  the  time  is  indefinite, 
and  a  money  penalty  is  fixed  the  payment  of  which  secures 
reinstatement.  The  Bakery  and  Confectionery  Workers 
define  suspension  as  meaning  "  to  be  deprived  of  all  benefits 
and  privileges  of  the  local  and  international  union  and  of  all 
right  to  take  any  part  in  the  proceedings."*  The  Carpen- 
ters' and  Joiners'  United  Brotherhood  deny  to  any  member 
who  is  in  "  bad  standing "  from  owing  three  months'  dues 
the  password,  a  seat,  or  any  office  in  local  union  meetings.^ 
The  Wire  Weavers  debar  a  suspended  workman  from  the 
right  to  speak  or  vote  on  any  question  before  a  local  asso- 
ciation.* 

Claims  for  benefits  on  account  of  sickness  or  accident 
occurring  during  suspension  are  of  course  invalidated.  A 
suspended  member  may  even  be  denied  the  right  to  receive 
any  financial  benefits  until  a  specified  time  elapses  after  rein- 
statement. Since  1888  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Car- 
penters and  Joiners  have  provided  that  a  member  in  "  bad 
standing  "  is  not  entitled  to  benefits  for  three  months  after 
reinstatement.'^  The  Granite  Cutters^  withhold  benefits  for 
six  months,  and  suspended  molders  may  not  receive  sick 
benefits  until  twelve  months  have  passed." 

for  the  first  offense,  and  expulsion  for  the  second  offense  (Consti- 
tution, 1903,  Sec.  272;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  272).  See  also  Con- 
stitution, Wire  Weavers,  1900,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  5. 

*  Constitution,  1903,  Sec.  223. 

*  Brauer-Zeitung,  August,  30,  1902,  p.  4. 
'Constitution,  1910,  Art.  IX.  Sees.  51,  57. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  Vila,  Sec.  4. 
"  Constitution,  1909,  Sees.  108,  109. 

'  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  10. 

^  Constitution,  1888,  Art.  X,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution,  1S99,  Sec.  89. 

*  Constitution,  1880,  Art.  XVI;  Constitution,  1905,  Sec.  89;  Consti- 
tution, 1909,  Sec.  68. 

'Constitution,  1902,  Art.  XVII,  Sees.  1-13;  Constitution,  1907, 
Art.  XVII,  Sees.  1-13. 


142  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [596 

Probably  the  most  severe  penalty  ordinarily  involved  in 
suspension  is  loss  of  work.  Some  unions  permit  suspended 
workmen  to  continue  in  employment.  Thus  the  president 
of  the  Window  Glass  Workers'  Local  Assembly  300  ruled  in 
a  decision  in  1899  that  suspended  members  should  not  be 
prevented  from  working.^  The  National  Brotherhood  of 
Operative  Potters  recognize  in  their  rules  that  a  suspended 
member  may  continue  to  work  at  the  trade.^  Ordinarily, 
however,  unions  desire,  as  a  measure  of  discipline,  to  deprive 
suspended  members  of  work.^  Thus  the  Flint  Glass  Work- 
ers provide  that  "  suspended  members  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  work  until  restored  to  membership."*  Likewise  the 
Brewery  Workmen^  and  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers^  provide 
definitely  for  loss  of  work  through  suspension.  The  effect- 
iveness of  the  exclusion  depends  of  course  upon  the  extent 
of  the  trade  controlled  by  the  union  and  upon  the  ability 
of  workmen  to  find  employment  in  non-union  establishments. 

Although  deprived  of  the  advantages  of  membership,  a 
suspended  member  is  ordinarily  regarded  as  retaining  some 
connection  with  the  union. '^     In  the  first  place,  if  he  seeks 

*  Proceedings,  1899,  p.  94. 

'Rules  and  Regulations,  1910,  Sec.  117. 

'  In  1909  a  member  of  Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  Association 
No.  33,  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  was  suspended  indefinitely  from  work  for 
"  superseding  "  a  fellow  member  on  a  position.  An  appeal  was  taken 
to  the  president  of  the  national  association.  The  action  of  the 
local  association  was  sustained  (Proceedings,  1910,  pp.  87,  276,  277). 

*  Constitution  of  Local  Unions,  1903,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution, 
1910,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  i. 

"Constitution,  1901,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  7;  Constitution,  1908,  Art.  Ill, 
Sec.  7.  In  1902  a  member  of  Brewery  Workers'  Local  Union  No. 
109,  of  Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  appealed  to  the  executive  board  against  a 
decree  of  the  local  union  suspending  him  from  work  for  six  months. 
The  board  decided  to  reduce  the  term  to  three  months.  In  a 
similar  case  in  1907  the  suspension  was  reduced  from  six  months 
to  four  weeks  (Brauer-Zeitung,  August  30,  1902,  p.  4;  March  16, 
1907,  p.  i). 

*  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  IX,  Sees.  51,  57. 

^  The  Elevator  Constructors'  Local  Union  No.  2  of  Chicago  states : 
"  Suspension  for  non-payment  of  dues  holds  good  until  the  mem- 
ber pays  up  all  arrearages,  not  only  the  amount  due  when  suspended, 
but  also  for  the  time  during  suspension.  Suspension  does  not 
sever  membership,  but  deprives  the  member  of  the  right  to  receive 
any  of  the  benefits,  rights  or  privileges  of  members  in  good  stand- 
ing" (Constitution,  1902,  Art.  XVI). 


597]  Severance  of  Membership  143 

reinstatement,  any  indebtedness  due  at  suspension  is  col- 
lected, and  he  may  also  be  charged  for  any  assessment  and 
fines,^  or  for  dues  accruing  during  the  term  of  suspension. - 
He  is  also  held  to  account  for  anti-union  conduct.  In  some 
cases,  as  in  the  Holders'  International  Union,^  a  suspended 
member  is  subject  to  trial,  and  may  be  expelled  by  a  local 
union  for  any  violation  of  rules  in  the  same  manner  as  is 
any  active  member. 

(3)  Expulsion. — ^As  has  been  indicated,  a  member  fla- 
grantly violating  established  rules  or  principles  may  be  ex- 
pelled and  denied  further  claim  to  recognition.  Expulsion 
is  the  most  severe  method  of  discipline,  and  at  a  very  early 
date  unions  began  to  guard  carefully  its  exercise.*  Thus  in 
1870  the  National  Forge  of  the  United  Sons  of  Vulcan  pro- 
vided that  any  member  acting  in  a  manner  unworthy  of 

^  Book  of  Laws,  International  Typographical  Union,  1910,  p.  50, 
Sec.  66.  See  also  Machinists'  Journal,  February.  1902,  p.  91,  and 
Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  17. 

^  The  International  Association  of  Granite  Cutters  requires  its 
local  branches  to  impose  a  monthly  charge  of  $1.25  for  the  period 
the  suspended  member  has  been  in  arrears  and  suspended  up  to 
thirty-six  months   (Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  66). 

'Constitution,  1876,  Decision  46,  p.  36;  Constitution,  1899,  Art. 
XIV,  Sec.  9.  The  Iron  Holders'  Local  Union  No.  128,  of  Richmond, 
Va.,  in  1891  fined  a  suspended  member  $50  and  expelled  him  for 
"scabbing"    (Iron  Holders'  Journal,  November,  1891.  p.   19). 

*  The  Journeymen  Black  and  White  Smiths'  Beneficial  Society  of 
Philadelphia,  chartered  in  1829,  provided  in  Article  XI,  Section  2, 
of  their  charter:  "No  member  shall  be  expelled  without  first 
having  a  copy  of  the  charge  or  charges  preferred  against  him.  with 
a  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  trial,  requesting  his  attendance  to 
show  cause  why  he  shall  not  be  expelled"  (Quoted  in  2  Wharton 
Supreme  Court  Reports,  Pennsylvania,  p.  310). 

President  W.  H.  Sylvis  of  the  Iron  Holders'  International  Union 
at  the  ninth  session  in  1868  reported  as  follows :  "  The  Constitution 
is  silent  on  the  subject  of  expulsion  of  members.  Huch  trouble  and 
no  little  injustice  has  been  the  result  of  this  silence.  The  law 
should  specify  the  offenses  punishable  by  expulsion,  and  it  should 
grant  to  every  man  a  fair  trial  on  all  charges  preferred,  and  the 
president  should  have  power  to  set  aside  the  action  of  any  union 
by  which  punishment  has  been  inflicted  without  a  legal  trial.  He 
should  also  have  power  to  grant  pardon  in  certain  cases.  This  is 
necessary  to  prevent  persecution  and  secure  justice"  (Proceedings, 
1868,  p.  28). 

In  1870  the  president  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  National 
Union  made  almost  identical  recommendations  in  his  report  to  the 
annual  session  of  the  union  (Proceedings,  1870,  p.  22). 


144  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [598 

membership  might  be  expelled  after  a  hearing  before  his 
accusers,  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  total  lodge.^  In  dis- 
puted cases  the  national  union  ofificers  insisted  that  the  ordi- 
nary principles  of  jurisprudence  governing  the  rights  of 
accused  persons  should  be  observed.^  In  1874  the  Iron 
Holders'  International  Union  approved  a  decision  of  its 
president  that  a  member  might  not  be  expelled  except  in 
conformity  with  detailed  rules  requiring  that  a  trial  should 
be  granted.^  In  1893  the  International  Association  of  Ma- 
chinists instructed  a  local  union  to  grant  an  expelled  mem- 
ber a  new  trial.*  The  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron 
and  Steel  Workers,'^  the  Flint  Glass  Workers,^  the  United 
Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners/  the  Bakery  and 
Confectionery  Workers,^  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,"  the 
Garment  Workers,^°and  the  Journeymen  Barbers"  early  pre- 
scribed that  a  trial  should  be  granted  any  member  accused 
of  a  serious  offense.  In  1892  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons, 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  secretary,  adopted  rules 
guaranteeing  a  fair  trial. ^^  Practically  all  unions  at  the 
present  time  make  similar  stipulations. 

The  power  to  expel  has  also  been  held  in  check  (a)  by 
provisions  specifying  the  number  of  votes  which  are  neces- 

'  By-Laws,  1870,  Art.  VII,  Sec.  i. 

'The  executive  board  of  the  Journeymen  Bakers  and  Confec- 
tionery Workers  in  1890  in  a  disputed  case  held  that  evidence 
shovi^ed  that  a  fair  trial  had  not  been  given  an  expelled  member, 
and  reinstated  him   (Bakers'  Journal,  November  22,  1890,  p.  2). 

'  Constitution,  1876,  Decision  No.  7,  Approved  July,  1874,  p.  32. 

*  Proceedings,  1893,  p.  85. 

"  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution.  1876,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i. 

*  Constitution,  1880-1881,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  3. 

^  Rules  for  Local  Unions,  1886,  Art.  V,  Sec.  5. 
"Bv-Laws,  1886,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  5- 

*  By-Laws,  1888,  Art.  XIX,  Sec.  59- 

"  Constitution,  1891,  Art.  XXII,  Sec.  I. 

"  Constitution,  1892,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i. 

"  The  secretary  in  his  report  to  the  convention  stated :  "  From 
among  the  thousands  of  complaints  and  appeals  that  your  execu- 
tive officers  have  to  consider  we  find  that  an  exercise  of  arbitrary 
authority  bordering  on  despotism  is  practised  by  some  of  our 
unions  ...  on  the  theory  that  might  makes  right,  and  no  oppor- 
tunity for  a  defense  is  allowed  to  a  member  who  may  be  charged 
with  a  supposed  offense"  (Twenty-Sixth  Annual  Report,  1891,  p. 
35;  Proceedings,  1892,  p.  106). 


599]  Severance  of  Membership  145 

sary  to  inflict  a  sentence,  and  (&)  by  provisions  granting  to 
expelled  workmen  an  appeal  to  the  ultimate  authority  in  the 
national  union.  Thus  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron 
and  Steel  Workers  has  required  continuously  that  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  local  union  shall  be  necessary  to  expel.^  In 
1891  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners 
adopted  a  similar  regulation.^  In  1907  the  Holders  pro- 
vided that  a  three-fourths  vote  instead  of  the  previously  pre- 
scribed two-thirds  vote  should  be  necessary.^  Other  unions 
requiring  a  two-thirds  vote  include  the  International  Typo- 
graphical Union,  the  Printing  Pressmen,  the  Lithographers, 
the  Atlantic  Coast  Seamen,  and  the  Commercial  Teleg- 
raphers. The  Order  of  Railroad  Telegraphers  prescribes 
that  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  local  board  of  adjustment 
shall  be  necessary  to  impose  the  penalty  of  expulsion.'* 

The  right  of  an  aggrieved  member  to  appeal  against  the 
decisions  of  a  local  union  to  the  national  union  has  usually 
been  recognized  by  the  unions.^  By  appeal  an  expelled 
member  secures  a  reconsideration  of  his  case  by  officers  of 
the  national  union,  who  are  removed  from  local  conditions 
and  are  thus  more  likely  to  give  an  impartial  decision.  Ex- 
pulsion for  trivial  or  insufficient  causes  may  be  prevented. 
The  national  unions  may  reverse  the  action  of  the  local 
union,  or  may  order  a  new  trial,  or  may  mitigate  the 
penalty.®    Under  a  decision  made  in  1900  it  was  held  that 

^  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1876,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  i ;  Consti- 
tution, 1909,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  11. 
'  Constitution,  1891,  Sec.  75. 
'Constitution,  1876,  p.  z^;  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  6. 

*  Statutes,  1909,  Sec.  85. 

'  Constitution  of  International  Typographical  Union,  1868,  Art. 
I,  Sec.  3;  Constitution,  Iron  Molders,  1876,  Art.  IX,  Sec.  5.  A 
typical  provision  is  that  of  the  National  Union  of  Journeymen 
Bakers,  adopted  in  1886:  "If  a  member  believes  that  he  was  un- 
justly deprived  of  his  membership  either  by  suspension  or  expulsion 
he  can  appeal  to  the  National  Executive  Committee.  Should  such 
a  member  not  be  satisfied  ...  he  is  entitled  to  an  appeal  to  the 
convention  which  renders  a  final  decision"  (Constitution,  1886, 
Art.  Ill,  Sec.  5;  Constitution,  1886  (21st  ed.),  Sec.  44). 

*  See,  for  example,  Proceedings,  Brewery  Workmen,  1903,  p.  145 ; 
Brauer-Zeitung,  October  14,  1905,  p.  4.  In  1905  a  brewery  workman 
was   expelled   from   Local   Union   No.    147,   of   Columbus,   O.,   for 

10 


146  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [600 

the  president  of  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and 
Joiners  may  order  a  new  trial  whenever  he  has  evidence 
that  the  rules  have  not  been  complied  with  in  a  former  trial.^ 
Similarly  in  1906  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Association-  and 
the  American  Federation  of  Musicians^  made  provision  for 
reopening  cases  for  trial  for  the  purpose  of  introducing 
new  evidence. 

In  recent  years  a  few  unions  have  provided  that  a  sen- 
tence of  expulsion  to  be  valid  must  be  approved  by  the  na- 
tional union.  In  1895  the  president  of  the  Molders'  Union 
asserted  that  under  the  existing  rules  "  a  member  may  be 
expelled  .  .  .  for  the  most  trivial  offense  with  little  regard 
to  his  constitutional  rights  of  notice  and  fair  trial ;  and  in 
many  cases  where  charges  are  preferred  no  opportunity  is 
given  the  accused  for  defense."*  Further  limitation  on  the 
power  to  expel  was  provided  by  a  rule  requiring  that  the 
charges,  testimony,  and  findings  in  each  case  of  expulsion 
must  be  submitted  to  the  national  president  and  approved 
before  the  sentence  becomes  effective.^  The  Boot  and  Shoe 
Workers®  in  1899  and  the  Pattern  Makers'^  in  1909  adopted 
rulings  that  all  expulsions  must  be  approved  by  the  national 
executive  board. 

Although  the  unions  are  ordinarily  reluctant  to  exercise 
the  power  of  expulsion  and  have  consequently  adopted  re- 
strictive regulations  to  prevent  its  abuse,  members  are  ex- 
pelled for  serious  offense  or  crime.  The  occasions  for  the 
infliction  of  the  penalty  are  usually  stated  in  very  general 

"  scurrilous  talk  and  other  acts  unbecoming  a  member."  On  appeal 
the  punishment  was  reduced  to  a  fine  of  $10,  as  the  executive  board 
deemed  expulsion  excessive.  See  also  Journal  of  Painters,  Deco- 
rators and  Paperhangers,  August.  1903,  p.  470;  Proceedings,  Steam 
Engineers,   1903,  p.  87;    Proceedings,   Marine  Engineers,    1909,  pp. 

327-33'i- 

^  The  Carpenter,  August,  1900,  p.  9. 
"  Proceedings,  1906,  p.  164. 

*  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  7. 

*  Proceedings,  1895,  p.  7. 

"  Proceedings,  1895,  p.  95 ;  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  April,  1897, 
p.  176;  November,  1897,  p.  529. 

'Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  102;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  97. 
^  Proceedings,  1909,  p.  26. 


6oi]  Severance  of  Membership  147 

terms,  and  the  local  union  determines  whether  or  not  a  spe- 
cific violation  of  rule  is  a  sufficient  cause  for  expulsion. 
Thus  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers  hold  that  any  member 
may  be  expelled  for  "  treason  to  the  union  or  to  the  cause 
of  labor."^  A  typical  specification  of  general  causes  of  ex- 
pulsion is  that  of  the  Journeymen  Bakers,  namely,  misrep- 
resentation at  admission,  dishonorable  conduct,  defalcation, 
strike  breaking,  or  prolonged  arrearage  in  dues.^  The 
Steam  Fitters,^  the  Compressed  Air  Workers,*  and  the 
Amalgamated  Society  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners^  make  pro- 
vision for  expelling  any  person  who  gains  admission  by 
false  representation.  The  Switchmen''  and  the  Shipwrights'^ 
expel  members  for  excessive  use  of  liquor.  In  some  cases 
expulsion  is  prescribed  for  a  minor  ofifense.  Thus  since 
1895  the  Lithographers  have  expelled  any  member  failing 
to  pay  dues  and  assessments  for  three  months.^  Since  1903 
the  Plumbers  have  forbidden  any  member  to  enlist  in  any 
military  organization  under  penalty  of  expulsion.^ 

W^hen  a  member  deliberately  commits  a  notorious  ofifense, 
some  unions  inflict  a  sentence  of  expulsion  without  a  trial. 
Thus  the  International  Typographical  Union  has  held  since 
1882  that  "  where  a  member  has  deliberately  ratted  it  is  not 
necessary  that  he  should  be  cited  for  trial,  but  he  may  be 
summarily  expelled."^''  The  United  Brotherhood  of  Car- 
penters and  Joiners  gives  power  to  the  local  union  to  expel  a 
member  by  a  three- fourths  vote  without  trial,  "  when  the 
evidence  is  plain  and  the  circumstances  require  immediate 

^Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  102;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  97. 
''Constitution,   1886,  Art.  Ill,  Sees.  2-6:   Constitution,   1906,  Art 
VII,  Sec.  5. 
^  Constitution,  1906,  Sec.  87. 

*  Constitution,  1902,  Art.  II. 
'  Rules,  1887,  Rule  6,  Sec.  8. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  280. 

*  By-Laws,  1905,  No.  26. 

*  Constitution  of  Subordinate  Associations,  1895,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2; 
Constitution,  1907,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  2. 

'  Constitution,  1902,  Sec.  143 ;  Proceedings,  1904,  pp.  82-83. 

"Proceedings,  1882,  p.  19;  General  Laws,  1910,  Sec.  130.  The 
Printing  Pressmen  and  Assistants'  International  Union  has  a  similar 
rule  (Constitution,  1898,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  14). 


148  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [602 

action."^  In  1906  the  Steam  Engineers'  International  Union 
likewise  provided  that  "where  a  flagrant  offense  is  com- 
mitted or  trade  rules  violated,"  the  rules  requiring  notice 
and  delay  for  trial  might  be  dispensed  with,  and  the  ac- 
cused required  forthwith  to  show  why  he  should  not  be 
punished.^ 

Expulsion  has  been  called  the  "  capital  punishment "  of 
the  workman  in  his  relation  to  the  union,  and  in  some  cases 
it  constitutes  permanent  exclusion.  But  ordinarily  expul- 
sion serves  only  to  make  it  very  difficult  for  the  expelled  per- 
son to  regain  membership.  Thus,  while  the  United  Broth- 
erhood of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  prescribes  that  for  certain 
causes  of  expulsion  the  workman  "  shall  be  forever  debarred 
from  membership,"  provision  is  also  made  for  the  readmis- 
sion  of  former  members.^  In  1895  the  president  of  the 
Molders'  Union  asserted  that  "  expulsion  should  be  the  ex- 
treme penalty  and  when  once  pronounced  against  a  member, 
the  privilege  of  being  reinstated  should  ever  be  denied  him; 
but  should  he  at  any  time  desire  to  join  the  union  his  ap- 
plication should  be  considered  as  that  of  a  new  applicant."* 
In  1906  the  Stereotypers'  and  Electrotypers'  Local  Union 
No.  24  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  expelled  two  members  for 
ninety-nine  years;  but  the  sentence  was  modified  by  the 
announcement  of  the  secretary  of  the  union  that  the  two 
men  could  make  amends  for  the  offense  committed.^  The 
Marine  Engineers  provide  that  expulsion  shall  be  "  for  all 
time  to  come  "  unless  the  expelling  subordinate  association 
is  granted  permission  by  the  national  association  to  rein- 

^  Constitution,  1891,  Sec.  170. 

^  Constitution,  1906,  Art.  IV,  Sec.  2. 

" "  Any  officer  or  member  who  endeavors  to  create  dissension 
among  the  members,  or  who  works  against  the  interest  and  harmony 
of  the  United  Brotherhood,  or  who  advocates  or  encourages  division 
of  the  funds  or  dissoKition  of  any  local  union,  or  the  separation  of 
the  local  union  from  the  United  Brotherhood,  or  who  embezzles  the 
funds,  shall  be  expelled  and  forever  debarred  from  membership  " 
(Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  190).  See  also  Constitution,  1891,  Sec.  85; 
Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  80. 

*  Proceedings,  1895,  pp.  7,  8. 

^  International  Stereotypers'  and  Electrotypers'  Union  Journal, 
February,  1906,  p.  11. 


603]  Severance  of  Membership  149 

state.^  Usually  an  expelled  member  may  gain  readmission 
after  an  indefinite  term  of  expulsion.  In  some  unions  a 
definite  time  is  prescribed  only  after  which  may  readmis- 
sion be  gained.  The  Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers  readmit 
expelled  workmen  after  one  month  ;^  the  Railroad  Teleg- 
raphers regard  an  expelled  member  as  ineligible  within  less 
than  two  years.^ 

^  Constitution,  1904,  Art.  X,  Sec.  2.  In  two  cases  in  1908  the  asso- 
ciation lifted  the  ban  of  expulsion,  permitting  each  of  two  subordi- 
nate associations  to  admit  an  expelled  engineer  (Proceedings,  1908, 

PP-  57,  59). 
=  Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XXXV,  Sec.  3. 
'  General  Statutes,  1905,  Sec.  23. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

REINSTATEMENT  AND  READMISSION 

The  ability  of  a  union  to  accomplish  its  aims  is  obviously 
dependent  on  the  strength  of  its  membership.  Ordinarily 
it  desires,  therefore,  to  admit  and  to  retain  a  maximum 
number  of  members.  Requirements  for  the  reinstatement 
and  readmission  of  former  members  are,  however,  essen- 
tially different  from  those  governing  original  admission  in 
that  they  do  not  prescribe  personal  qualifications,  but  instead 
require  the  applicant  to  adjust  the  matters  which  resulted 
either  in  withdrawal,  suspension,  or  expulsion.  Little  diffi- 
culty has  been  experienced  in  regulating  the  reinstatement 
of  withdrawn  journeymen  resuming  work  at  a  trade.  The 
questions  relating  to  the  reinstatement  or  readmission  of 
suspended  and  expelled  workmen  have  been  more  prom- 
inent. The  chief  difficulty  here  lies  in  the  fact  that  to  re- 
store on  easy  terms  such  workmen  to  their  former  standing 
tends  to  impair  the  effectiveness  of  the  union's  disciplinary 
regulations. 

(i)  Members  zvho  have  zvithdrawn. — As  has  been  indi- 
cated in  the  preceding  chapter,  a  workman  who  chooses 
or  who  is  required  to  sever  active  membership  by  securing  a 
withdrawal  card  retains  a  claim  to  reinstatement  on  favor- 
able terms  whenever  he  returns  to  the  trade.  Normally, 
the  presentation  of  a  card  in  good  faith  to  the  issuing  local 
union  automatically  restores  a  workman  to  full  membership 
without  charge.  It  has,  however,  become  necessary  for  the 
national  unions  to  place  some  restriction  on  the  privilege  of 
reinstatement,  in  order  to  prevent  its  misuse.  Thus  a  with- 
drawn workman  returning  to  a  trade  within  a  specified  time 
may  be  charged  with  back  dues,  and  may  be  held  respon- 
sible for  any  violation  of  union  rules  and  principles  during 
the  term  of  withdrawal.     The  Molders'  International  Union, 

150 


605]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  151 

after  providing  in  1872  for  issuing  honorary  cards,  found 
that  members  frequently  withdrew  to  avoid  payment  of 
dues,  and  after  dull  seasons  redeposited  their  cards.  In 
1876  there  was  accordingly  adopted  a  rule  fixing  a  period  of 
six  months  within  which  a  retired  workman  could  not  be- 
come again  an  active  member  free  of  charge.  If  he  re- 
turned to  the  trade  during  that  time,  all  accruing  dues  and 
assessments  must  be  paid  at  reinstatement.^  Since  1891 
the  Journeymen  Stone  Cutters'  Association  has  required 
the  payment  of  back  dues  and  demands  for  any  reinstate- 
ment within  twelve  months  after  leaving  the  trade.^  Sim- 
ilarly the  Shingle  Weavers'  International  Union  has  adopted 
a  six  months'  limit.^ 

A  withdrawn  member  is  responsible  for  his  anti-union 
conduct.  The  unions  ordinarily  provide  that  a  withdrawal 
card  held  by  a  member  who  works  against  the  union  is 
thereby  annulled.  The  record  of  a  withdrawn  workman  is 
investigated  when  he  applies  for  reinstatement,  and  for  no- 
torious offenses  he  may  be  excluded,  or  may  be  fined  and 
required  to  pay  an  increased  fee.*  Thus  the  executive 
board  of  the  United  Association  of  Journeymen  Plumbers 
in  1903  approved  the  action  of  the  local  union  in  Tampa, 
Florida,  in  refusing  to  accept  a  withdrawn  member,  but 
advised  that  a  fine  of  $100  might  properly  be  imposed.^ 
The  Potters,^  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,''  and  the  Flint  Glass 
Workers^  require  that  a  committee  shall  investigate  and 
report  on  the  record  of  a  withdrawn  workman  desiring 
again  to  become  a  member  before  he  may  be  received  into 
the  union.     The  regulation  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers 

^The  International  Journal,  October,   1873,  pp.   135-136;  March, 
1875,  p.  280. 
'Proceedings,  1891,  p.  2,  in  Monthly  Circular,  August,  1891. 
'  Proceedings,  1906,  pp.  6,  17. 

*  Twenty-Sixth  Annual  Report  of  President,  Bricklayers'  and 
Masons'  International  Union,  1801,  pp.  58-60. 

'  Plumbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  November, 
1903,  p.  4. 

*  Constitution,  1892,  Art.  XII,  Sec.  5 ;  Rules  and  Regulations, 
1910,  Sec.  150. 

^Constitution,  1910,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  31. 

*  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  XXII,  Sec.  9. 


152  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [606 

is  typical :  "  Such  withdrawal  card  shall  reinstate  the  mem- 
ber in  lieu  of  an  initiation  fee  .  .  .  whenever  the  member 
resumes  work  at  the  trade,  provided  withdrawal  cards  ob- 
tained by  false  representation,  or  held  by  persons  who  have 
worked  against  the  interests  of  the  union  or  who  have  failed 
to  deposit  such  cards  while  working  at  the  trade,  shall  be 
null  and  void."^  The  Musicians  impose  a  special  reinstate- 
ment fee  of  $25  on  any  applicant  who  has  accepted  employ- 
ment at  the  trade  after  resigning  from  membership.^ 

(2)  Suspended  Members. — Provisions  for  the  reinstate- 
ment of  suspended  members  contain  necessarily  an  element 
of  punishment,  and  such  provisions  must  be  rigidly  enforced 
in  order  to  render  effective  the  disciplinary  value  of  suspen- 
sion. On  the  other  hand,  the  imposition  of  severe  condi- 
tions often  deters  past  offenders  from  making  any  effort  to 
regain  standing.  A  union  in  prescribing  terms  of  reinstate- 
ment has,  therefore,  to  balance  the  desire  to  recruit  its  mem- 
bership against  the  advantage  accruing  from  a  rigid  en- 
forcement of  its  disciplinary  rules. 

A  workman  deprived  of  the  privileges  of  membership 
on  account  of  arrearage  in  dues  or  for  other  violation  of 
union  rules  may  reinstate  himself  in  the  local  union  which 
suspended  him  only  by  the  discharge  of  indebtedness,  and 
by  the  payment  of  a  fine  or  a  fee.  Local  regulation  of  the 
terms  of  reinstatement  for  suspended  members  was  early 
superseded  by  specific  requirements  prescribed  by  the  na- 
tional union  in  order  to  secure  uniformity.  Thus  the  Cigar 
Makers'  International  Union  provided  in  1865  that  a  cigar 
maker  might  be  reinstated  in  the  suspending  local  union 
only  after  paying  an  amount  to  be  fixed  by  local  union 
rules. ^  Varying  terms  of  reinstatement  in  different  local- 
ities and  the  frequent  suspension  of  members  weakened  the 
strength  of  the  union  and  caused  wide-spread  dissatisfac- 
tion.    Since   1879  the  national  union  has  accordingly  im- 

^  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  93. 

^  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  V,  Sec.  1 1 ;  Proceedings,  1903,  p.  49. 
^  Constitution  for  Local  Unions,  1865,  Art.  Ill,  Sec.  2 ;  Proceed- 
ings, 1865,  p.  61. 


607]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  153 

posed  a  uniform  reinstatement  fee.^  In  1874  the  Iron 
Molders  required  that  a  suspended  member  should  be  re- 
instated by  vote  of  the  suspending  union  after  the  indebted- 
ness due  at  suspension  was  paid.-  Since  1899  the  Boot  and 
Shoe  Workers  have  demanded  that  the  apphcant  must 
reduce  the  indebtedness  due  at  suspension  and  pay  a  special 
fee  in  addition.^ 

The  Paper  Mill  Workers  require  that  arrearages,  a  spe- 
cial fee,  and  an  extra  fine  shall  be  paid.*  A  few  unions, 
such  as  the  Steam  Fitters,^  the  United  Garment  Workers,** 
the  Retail  Clerks,'^  and  the  Granite  Cutters,^  require,  besides 
the  discharge  of  former  indebtedness,  the  payment  of  any 
dues,  fines,  and  assessments  which  have  accumulated  during 
the  term  of  suspension.  Indebtedness,  dues,  fines,  or  fees 
having  been  paid,  reinstatement  takes  place  usually  without 
formal  action  of  a  local  union. 

A  suspended  member,  like  a  withdrawn  member,  is  re- 
sponsible for  anti-union  conduct  during  the  term  of  sus- 
pension. At  reinstatement  the  record  of  the  applicant  may 
be  investigated  and  an  increased  fee  or  special  fine  im- 
posed. The  Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship  Builders  thus 
provide  that  a  workman  in  order  to  be  reinstated  must  be 
proposed  by  a  member  in  good  standing,  and  after  his  record 
is  investigated  by  a  committee,  he  must  receive  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  the  local  lodge.®  The  Flint  Glass  Workers'  Union 
requires  an  investigation  and  a  renewal  of  the  initiation 
pledge  before  reinstatement.^'^     The  Molders'  International 

^  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  July  10,  1879,  p.  3 ;  October,  1880, 
p.  2;  Constitution,  1879,  Art.  XVII,  Sec.  5. 

^  Constitution,  1876,  p.  33.  In  1895  it  was  provided  that  a  vote 
should  not  be  necessary  to  reinstate  a  member  suspended  for  non- 
payment of  dues,  but  that  by  settlement  with  the  union  such  member 
was  automatically  reinstated  (Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  9). 

*  Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  100;  Proceedings,  1909,  p.  20. 

*  General  Laws,  1906,  Sec.  26. 
"Constitution,  1906,  Sec.  loi. 

"  Constitution,  1900,  Art.  XX,  Sec.  5. 
^  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  30. 

*  Constitution,  1905,  Sec.  68;  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  66. 
'  Constitution,  Subordinate  Lodge,  1910,  Art.  XV,  Sec.  7. 
"  Constitution  of  Local  Unions,  1910,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  2. 


154  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [608 

Union  holds  suspended  members  liable  to  trial  and  punish- 
ment; if  application  be  made  for  reinstatement,  a  special 
fine  must  be  paid  in  case  of  "  unbecoming  conduct." 

Ordinarily  a  reinstated  member  is  denied  the  right  to  re- 
ceive friendly  benefits  for  a  certain  period.  This  denial 
constitutes  a  part  of  the  punishment  of  suspension.  The 
period  after  reinstatement  during  which  financial  benefits 
are  withheld  varies  from  three  months,  as  required  by  the 
United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters^  and  the  Plumbers' 
United  Association,'^  to  twelve  months,  as  required  by  the 
Holders^  and  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union.'  The 
Operative  Potters  grant  the  minimum  death  benefit  to  sus- 
pended members  only  after  six  months  of  continuous  good 
standing.^  The  Retail  Clerks,^  the  Switchmen,'^  the 
Holders,*  and  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers^  entirely  exclude 
sick  and  disabled  suspended  members  who  seek  reinstate- 
ment in  order  to  acquire  a  claim  to  financial  benefits. 

A  more  difficult  problem  has  arisen  in  dealing  with  sus- 
pended members  who  apply  for  reinstatement  in  a  local 
union  other  than  that  from  which  they  were  suspended. 
At  a  very  early  date  the  national  organizations  of  the  Print- 
ers, the  Holders,  and  the  Cigar  Hakers  denied  any  sus- 
pended member  reinstatement  in  another  union  unless  the 
suspending  local  union  should  consent.  The  purpose  of  the 
regulation  was  to  secure  unity  of  action  and  to  render  effec- 
tive the  penalty  of  suspension  among  the  different  local 
unions.  The  principle  generally  adopted  by  the  national 
unions  is  laid  down  by  the  Electrical  Workers'  International 
Brotherhood  as  follows :  "  Any  person  who  has  been  sus- 
pended from  any  local  union,  or  who  is  in  arrears  to  any 
local  union,  shall  not  be  eligible  to  membership  in  any  other 

^Constitution,  1909,  Sees.  106,  iii. 

^  Constitution,  1908,  Sec.  64. 

'  Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XVII,  Sees.  7,  73. 

*  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  96. 

"  Rules  and  Regulations,  1910,  Sec.  85. 

°  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  30. 

'  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  241a. 

'  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  Julv,  1875,  p.  509. 

"  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  Appendix,  1910,  Sec.  10. 


609]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  155 

local  union,  except  by  the  consent  of  the  local  union  of 
which  he  was  a  member."^ 

Difficulty  is  experienced  in  the  working  of  such  rules.  In 
a  time  of  strike,  or  when  an  effort  is  being  made  to  unionize 
a  shop,  it  may  become  desirable  to  reinstate  members  with- 
out the  delay  incident  to  a  settlement  of  differences  with  a 
union  in  another  locality.  The  suspending  local  union, 
moreover,  may  refuse  its  consent.  Thus  in  1891  the  execu- 
tive board  of  the  Carpenters'  and  Joiners'  United  Brother- 
hood in  a  decision  upheld  the  right  of  Local  Union  No.  165 
of  Pittsburgh  to  refuse  its  consent  to  the  reinstatement  of 
one  of  its  suspended  members  in  the  local  union  of  Greens- 
burg,  Pennsylvania.-  A  refusal  of  consent  may  not  seem 
to  be  warranted,  and  a  local  union  may  therefore  desire  to 
reinstate  the  suspended  member  of  another  union  without 
its  approval. 

The  rule  has  been  modified  in  some  cases.  Thus,  since 
1892,  the  Bricklayers  and  Masons  have  provided  that  a 
member  who  has  been  suspended  solely  for  non-payment  of 
dues  may  join  again  without  the  consent  of  the  former 
union.^  In  1895  the  Molders  excepted  members  suspended 
for  indebtedness  from  the  rule  of  consent.*  In  1903  the 
executive  board  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators 
and  Paperhangers  held  that,  although  the  constitution  re- 
quired the  securing  of  the  consent,  the  rule  should  not  be  so 
enforced  as  to  exclude  workmen  who  were  suspended  for 
arrearages,  and  against  whom  reasonable  objection  was  not 
raised.^  Ordinarily  the  unions  have,  however,  insisted  that 
the  suspending  local  union  must  consent  to  the  reinstate- 
ment, whether  the  applicant  was  suspended  for  arrearages 

^  Constitution,  igoi,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  4. 

*The  Carpenter,  February,  1891,  p.  4. 

'Annual  Report  of  President,  1892,  p.  57;  Constitution,  1908,  Art. 
XVI,  Sees.  I,  2. 

*  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  7;  Iron  Molders'  Journal, 
August,  1899,  p.  414. 

'  Official  Journal  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators  and 
Paperhangers,  August,  1903,  p.  518. 


156  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [610 

in  dues  or  because  of  other  offenses/  Proposed  methods 
for  obviating  difficulties  in  the  working  of  the  rule  will  be 
noticed  later  when  considering  its  application  to  the  read- 
mission  of  expelled  unionists. 

(3)  Expelled  Workmen. — Although  an  expelled  member 
is  liable  to  permanent  exclusion  from  membership,  the 
unions  have  usually  permitted  his  readmission  and  pre- 
scribed the  terms  under  which  it  may  be  gained.  A  local 
union  may  exercise  its  own  discretion  as  to  the  readmission 
of  its  former  members;  the  national  union  usually  requires 
only  that  a  readmission  charge  shall  be  made.'  After  a 
period  of  expulsion  has  elapsed  and  proof  is  presented  of 
the  willingness  of  the  applicant  to  conform  to  union  regula- 
tions he  may  be  readmitted  into  the  local  union  of  which  he 
was  a  member  on  the  payment  of  a  prescribed  sum,  a  read- 
mission  fee,  or  a  fine.^  Normally,  a  readmitted  member  is 
entitled  to  the  same  standing  in  the  union  as  if  he  were  a 
new  member.  In  some  cases,  however,  for  a  specified  time, 
he  is  denied  the  full  privileges  of  holding  ofRce  or  receiving 
financial  benefits.* 

As  in  the  reinstatement  of  suspended  members,  so  in  the 
readmission  of  the  expelled,  the  problem  of  the  national 
union  has  chiefly  been  the  regulation  of  the  readmission  of 

*  Proceedings,  Wood  Carvers,  1903,  p.  34;  Brauer-Zeitung,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1905,  p.  4;  Proceedings,  United  Brotherhood  of  Car- 
penters and  Joiners,  1906,  p.  247 ;  Proceedings,  Plumbers,  Gas  and 
Steam  Fitters,  igoo,  p.  40. 

^  Constitution  of  Subordinate  Associations,  Lithographers,  1901, 
Art.  VI,  Sec.  i ;  Constitution,  Meat  Cutters  and  Butcher  Workmen, 
1897,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  3 ;  Constitution,  Phimbers,  Gas  and  Steam  Fitters, 
1908,  Sec.  66;  Constitution  of  Subordinate  Lodges,  Machinists,  1909, 
Sees.  18,  23. 

*  In  some  cases  application  for  readmission  may  be  made  only 
after  a  specified  time.  See  below,  pp.  160,  161 ;  General  Statutes, 
Railroad  Telegraphers,  1905,  Sec.  23. 

*A  typical  example  of  restricted  privileges  of  former  members  is 
shown  by  the  following  rule  of  the  United  Hatters :  "  Any  member 
of  this  association  who  has  committed  a  foul  act  and  who  may  be 
reinstated  after  this  date  shall  not  be  allowed  to  hold  the  position  of 
foreman  or  superintendent  of  any  factory  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  association"  (By-Laws,  1907,  Art.  XXIV,  Sec.  8).  The  Inter- 
national Molders'  Union  withholds  for  a  year  after  readmission  the 
right  of  the  member  to  hold  office  or  to  receive  sick,  death,  and  dis- 
ability benefits  (Constitution,  1907,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  12). 


6ii]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  157 

former  members  applying  for  membership  in  a  local  union 
other  than  the  one  from  which  they  were  expelled.  An 
important  advantage  originally  impelling  independent  local 
associations  of  workmen  to  unite  in  national  trade  organiza- 
tions was  undoubtedly  the  possibility  of  effecting  a  plan 
whereby  offending  journeymen  might  be  known  and  ex- 
cluded from  the  trade  by  all  the  unions.  One  method  for 
accomplishing  this  result  was  the  practice  by  some  early 
unions  of  sending  the  names  of  expelled  members  to  unions 
in  other  localities  in  the  expectation  that  these  workmen 
would  not  be  admitted  to  membership.^  In  i860  the  Na- 
tional Typographical  Union  adopted  the  rule  that  a  local 
union  before  admitting  an  applicant  must  secure  the  con- 
sent of  the  local  union  from  whose  jurisdiction  he  came.^ 
In  1867  the  Grand  Forge  of  United  Sons  of  Vulcan 
threatened  to  revoke  the  charter  of  a  subordinate  lodge  for 
admitting  a  former  member  of  another  lodge. ^  After  this 
time  it  became  the  rule  of  national  unions  in  the  various 
trades  that  an  expelled  member  must  be  restored  to  mem- 
bership in  the  expelling  union  before  he  m.ay  be  admitted 
into  any  other  local  union.* 

The  unions  have  been  frequently  called  upon  to  decide 
disputes  between  local  unions  growing  out  of  the  application 
of  the  rule.  The  officials  in  their  decisions  have  adhered 
consistently  to  the  principle  of  national  exclusion.     Thus 

'The  Hand-Loom  Carpet  Weavers  of  New  York  City  in  1846  pro- 
vided in  their  constitution  for  transmitting  to  all  other  factories  the 
names  of  any  members  violating  the  rules  (Weekly  Tribune,  New 
York,  September  12,  1846.  Reprinted  in  Commons,  Vol.  VIII,  p. 
242).  See  Convention  Proceedings,  Cigar  Makers,  1867,  p.  167: 
"  Resolved  that  local  unions  be  directed  to  place  the  names  of  .  .  . 
and  ...  on  their  blacklist,  and  that  said  persons  cannot  be  received 
into  membership  in  any  local  unions  under  our  jurisdiction."  See 
also  Proceedings,  National  Typographical  Union,  1858,  p.  27. 

^  Proceedings,  i860,  p.  34. 

*  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  15. 

*  Proceedings,  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  1872,  p.  31 ;  International 
Journal,  June,  1873,  p.  22;  Constitution,  Iron  Molders,  1876,  p.  ;^Ti; 
Constitution,  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,  1876,  Art.  X,  Sec.  0;  Consti- 
tution, Flint  Glass  Workers,  i88cv-i88i.  Art.  XII,  Sec.  6:  Constitu- 
tion, United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners,  1886,  Art.  VI, 
Sec.  4. 


158  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [612 

the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  International  Union  at  the 
session  of  1886  ordered  the  local  union  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  to  remove  from  its  membership  a  workman  who  had 
been  expelled  from  the  local  union  of  Brooklyn,  New  York.^ 
In  1899  the  Cigar  Makers'  International  Union  upheld  the 
rule  by  threatening  to  revoke  the  charter  of  a  local  union 
for  admitting  expelled  members  of  another  union.-  Sim- 
ilarly, in  1906,  the  executive  board  of  the  Painters,  Decora- 
tors and  Paperhangers'  Brotherhood  reversed  the  action  of 
the  Seattle  local  union  in  admitting  a  former  member  of  the 
San  Francisco  local  union  without  its  consent.^  It  was, 
however,  difficult  to  prevent  a  local  union  from  initiating 
expelled,  as  well  as  suspended,  members  when  the  immediate 
interest  of  the  local  union  demanded  it,  without  regard  to 
the  past  record  of  the  applicants  and  without  delaying  to 
adjust  differences  with  the  union  from  which  they  came.* 
When  a  new  local  union  is  being  organized  or  an  effort  is 
being  made  to  recruit  the  membership  of  a  weak  union,  it 
is  particularly  desirable  to  admit  all  workmen  employed  in 
a  locality  without  holding  the  former  members  of  other 
unions  to  account  for  past  offenses. 

These  difficulties  have  been  partly  obviated  by  the  de- 
velopment in  certain  national  unions  of  the  power  (a)  to 
grant  an  "  amnesty,"  and  (b)  to  approve  or  control  the  read- 
mission  of  any  expelled  workman.  In  1867  the  president 
of  the  Iron  Molders'  International  Union,  during  a  cam- 
paign to  build  up  the  union,  was  empowered  for  six  months 
to  extend  "  a  general  pardon  to  all  members  expelled  or  sus- 
pended," and  to  readmit  them  for  the  payment  of  half  the 

*  Proceedings,  1886,  pp.  63,  89.  See  also  for  other  examples  in  this 
union,  Proceedings,  1887,  pp.  42-43;  and  Report  of  President,  1890, 
p.  Ixvii. 

'  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  July,  1899,  pp.  i,  2. 
'  Official  Journal  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators  and 
Paperhangers,   August,    1906,  p.   519. 

*  Other  instances  of  the  enforcement  of  the  rule  of  consent  by 
national  unions  may  be  cited :  Proceedings,  Plumbers,  Gas  and 
Steam  Fitters,  1900,  p.  40;  The  Bakers'  Journal  and  Deutsch-Ameri- 
canische  Backer  Zeitung,  March  16,  1901,  p.  3;  July  6,  1901,  p.  i ; 
July  27,  1901,  p.  i;  Proceedings,  Lithographers,  1901,  pp.  82,  83; 
International  Steam  Engineer,  November,  1907,  p.  401. 


613]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  159 

sum  due  the  respective  local  unions.^  In  the  same  year  the 
Cigar  Makers'  International  Union  recommended  to  the 
local  union  the  propriety  of  pardoning  former  offenders.^ 
In  1868  the  typographical  unions  proclaimed  an  "  am- 
nesty" by  which  for  three  months  expelled  printers  were 
to  be  admitted  on  application  to  any  union  within  whose 
jurisdiction  they  were  working,  without  being  subject  to 
any  "  fines,  pains,  or  penalties."  Each  local  union  was  re- 
quired to  elect  "  such  applicant  without  regard  to  his  past 
record."^  In  1876  and  in  1895  the  Iron  IMolders  resorted 
again  to  a  general  "amnesty."*  In  1882  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  adopted  a  rule  per- 
mitting the  subordinate  lodges  to  "  whitewash  "  any  former 
member.^  In  1909  the  Journeymen  Stone  Cutters'  Associa- 
tion opened  all  its  branch  unions  for  the  free  admission  of 
any  stone  cutter  as  if  he  were  a  new  member,  "  the  past  to 
be  considered  as  entirely  obliterated."® 

While  the  national  unions  possess  this  power,  it  has 
been  only  infrequently  exercised.  Some  unions,  however, 
make  a  provision  for  permitting  any  local  union  to  grant  a 
general  "  amnesty  "  whenever  in  the  opinion  of  national  offi- 
cials such  a  course  is  deemed  desirable.  It  has  been  used 
chiefly  with  a  view  to  recruiting  membership,  gaining  a 
strike,  or  unionizing  a  shop.  Thus  since  1889  the  executive 
board  of  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners 
has  in  extraordinary  cases  granted  to  weak  local  unions 
whose  membership  needs  encouragement  a  dispensation  to 
deal  leniently  with  offenders.'^  Since  1890  the  executive 
council  of  the  International  Typographical  Union  has  had 

^  Proceedings,  1867,  pp.  21,  51. 

'  Proceedings,  1867,  p.  137. 

^  Proceedings,  1868,  p.  35 ;  Proceedings,  1869,  p.  9. 

*  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  August  10,  1876,  p.  3 ;  Proceedings,  1895, 
p.  68. 

*  Proceedings,  1882,  p.  975. 

'  Stone  Cutters'  Journal,  September,  1909,  p.  4.  The  action  of  the 
union  was  declared  to  be  "  an  extraordinary  measure  under  extra- 
ordinary circumstances." 

^The  Carpenter,  November,  1891,  p.  2;  Circular,  December  28, 
1889;  Proceedings,  1892,  p.  31;  Constitution,  1899,  p.  27- 


i6o  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [614 

the  power  to  declare  an  "  amnesty  "  for  expelled  printers 
working  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  local  union/  Simi- 
larly, local  unions  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons'  Interna- 
tional Union  are  permitted  under  certain  circumstances  to 
receive  into  membership  all  journeymen  who  may  apply .^ 
The  Shingle  Weavers'  International  Union^  and  the  Inter- 
national Association  of  Machinists*  likewise  will  upon  re- 
quest permit  any  local  union  to  admit  on  easy  terms  all  for- 
mer members.  Under  provisions  of  this  character,  when  a 
local  union  is  endeavoring  to  recruit  its  membership  or  to 
unionize  a  shop  or  to  avoid  a  strike,  it  may  secure  an  "  am- 
nesty "  with  the  assent  of  the  national  union.  Any  work- 
man may  then  be  admitted  to  membership  without  obtain- 
ing the  consent  of  the  expelling  union.  The  result  is  that 
the  national  exclusion  of  the  expelled  need  be  carried  only 
up  to  the  point  where  in  the  opinion  of  national  union  offi- 
cials it  would  be  a  disadvantage. 

Ordinarily  the  readmission  of  an  expelled  workman  is 
controlled  by  the  action  of  a  local  union,  and  the  national 
union  intervenes  only  in  cases  in  which  an  expelling  local 
union  has  disputed  the  authority  of  another  union  to  admit 
the  applicant.  On  account  of  the  difficulty  and  delay  in- 
volved in  enforcing  the  consent  rule  and  of  the  varying 
policies  of  local  unions,  a  few  unions  have  assumed  prac- 
tical control  of  readmission.  Thus  since  1884  the  Flint 
Glass  Workers'  Union  has  readmitted  former  members  only 
by  a  majority  vote  of  all  the  local  unions,  or  of  the  entire 
membership.^  In  1886  the  International  Union  of  Bakers 
and  Confectionery  Workers  first  required  that  readmission 
should  be  gained  only  by  the  action  of  a  session  of  the  Inter- 
national Union.®  The  session  of  1890  at  the  request  of  a 
local   union  voted  to   readmit  an   expelled  workman.     In 

*  Proceedings,  1890,  p.  128. 

"  Semi-Annual  Report  of  Secretary,  June  3,  1896,  p.  3. 
^  General  Laws,  1904,  Sec.  23. 

*  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution.  1909.  Art.  IV,  Sec.  21. 
'Constitution,  1884,  Art.  XII,  Sec.  7;  Constitution,  1895,  Art.  XI, 

Sec.  g;  Constitution,  1910,  Art.  XXIII,  Sec.  4. 

*  By-Laws,  1886,  Art.  XIV,  Sec.  4. 


615]  Reinstatement  and  Readmission  161 

1901  the  executive  board  readmitted  a  former  member  at  the 
urgent  recommendatioji  of  the  expelHng  union. ^  Since  1899 
the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union  has  enforced  this 
method  of  readmission.  Thus  in  1906  the  executive  board 
consented  to  remove  the  ban  of  expulsion  from  eight  former 
members  of  Local  Union  No.  133  of  Chicago,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  latter.^  Other  unions  which  require  the  con- 
sent of  national  officers  for  readmitting  expelled  workmen 
include  the  Machine  Printers,'  the  Marine  Engineers,*  the 
Plumbers,^  the  United  Hatters,*^  the  Painters,'^  the  Lace 
Operatives,^  the  Photo- Engravers,^  the  Musicians,^"  the  Print 
Cutters/^  the  Switchmen,^-  the  Structural  Iron  Workers,^^ 
the  Marble  Workers,^*  and  the  Locomotive  Engineers. ^^ 

This  method  of  readmitting  applicants  is  designed  to  ren- 
der effective  the  disciplinary  force  of  expulsion  and  to  pre- 
vent injustice  to  expelled  workmen  reapplying  for  member- 
ship. In  some  cases  the  requirement  of  the  consent  of  a 
national  officer  appears  designed  to  make  readmission  diffi- 
cult and  uncertain.     Thus  the  Locomotive  Engineers  pro- 

^The  Bakers'  Journal,  November  22,  1890,  p.  2;  The  Bakers' 
Journal  and  Deutsch-Americanische  Backer  Zeitung,  February  16, 
1901,  p.  I. 

'  Constitution,  1899,  Sec.  102 ;  The  Union  Boot  and  Shoe  Worker, 
January,  1906,  p.  32- 

^  Rules,  Regulations  and  By-Laws,  1886,  Art.  V,  Sec.  4;  Rules, 
Regulations  and  By-Laws,  1903,  Art.  V,  Sec.  4. 

*  Decisions  (Doc.  83,  1894),  in  Constitution,  1904  (Revised), 
p.  27 ;  Proceedings,  1904,  p.  142. 

'Constitution,  1^8,  Art.  X,  Sec.  4.  In  1905  the  executive  board 
of  the  Journeymen  Plumbers'  United  Association,  at  the  request  of 
Local  Union  No.  230,  of  San-  Diego,  Cal.,  assented  to  the  readmis- 
sion of  a  workman  who  had  been  expelled  and  fined  but  who  desired 
to  "square  up  with  the  local  and  be  good"  (Plumbers,  Gas  and 
Steam  Fitters'  Official  Journal,  July,  1905,  p.  5). 

"Journal  of  the  United  Hatters,  August  i,  1899,  p.  2. 

^  Official  Journal  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Painters,  Decorators  and 
Paperhangers,  February,  1903,  p.  87;  Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  147. 

"*  By-Laws,  1905,  Art.  VI,  Sec.  2. 

'General  Laws,  1907,  Sec.  5;  Proceedings,  1908,  p.  5. 

^"Constitution,  1907,  Art.  V,  Sec.  11;  The  International  Musician, 
February,   1908,  p.   i. 

"Proceedings,  1908,  pp.  11-12. 

"  Subordinate  Lodge  Constitution,  1909,  Sec.  253. 

^'Constitution,  1910,  Sec.  96. 

"  Proceedings,  1910,  pp.  158,  159,  178,  179. 

"  Constitution  and  Statutes,  p.  38. 
II 


1 62  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [616 

vide  that  "  any  person  who  shall  have  been  expelled  the  third 
time  shall  never  again  become  a  member  except  by  a  dis- 
pensation from  the  Grand  Chief  and  the  recommendation 
of  the  nearest  subdivision  to  where  he  is  located."  On  the 
other  hand,  a  local  union  through  personal  feeling  may  un- 
justly make  the  terms  for  readmission  unwarrantably  diffi- 
cult. Control  by  national  authority  enables  the  applicant  to 
obtain  an  impartial  consideration  of  his  claims  to  favorable 
terms.^ 

^  The  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  since 
1887  have  thus  provided  for  readmission  by  national  officers  in  cases 
w^here  the  subordinate  lodge  refuses  to  grant  a  membership  card  or 
makes  the  terms  exorbitant  (Constitution,  1887,  Art.  XIII,  Sec.  5; 
Constitution,  1909,  Art.  XXXV,  Sec.  3).  Since  1888  the  president 
of  the  Iron  Holders'  Union  has  been  empowered  at  his  discretion  to 
settle  with  former  members  in  localities  where  no  union  exists  and 
to  reorganize  unions  (Proceedings,  1888,  p.  no;  Constitution,  1907, 
Standing  Resolution  No.  5,  p.  47). 


CONCLUSION 

In  previous  chapters  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  in- 
terpretation and  enforcement  of  various  requirements  for 
admission.  It  remains  to  consider  to  what  extent  the  exist- 
ing union  regulations  of  admission  are  economically  and 
socially  justifiable.  For  this  purpose  regulations  affecting 
admission  may  be  conveniently  treated  in  their  relation  ( i ) 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  trade,  (2)  to  the  welfare  of  work- 
men denied  membership,  and  (3)  to  the  effects  upon  the 
unions  themselves. 

(i)  Admission  regulations  and  trade  prosperity. — Op- 
ponents and  advocates  of  unionism  generally  agree  that 
trade  organization  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  wages 
through  collective  bargaining  is  a  benefit  to  organized  work- 
men and  to  society.  Union  methods  of  achieving  the  aims 
of  organization,  however,  have  frequently  aroused  dissent. 
Alleged  monopolistic  restriction  of  the  number  of  workers 
in  the  trades  by  apprenticeship  rules  and  arbitrary  standards 
for  entrance  to  the  unions  has  in  particular  been  attacked. 
It  is  charged  that  the  absolute  limitation  upon  the  number  of 
apprentices  who  may  be  employed  in  one  establishment,  or 
their  restriction  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  journeymen, 
is  made  without  regard  to  economic  conditions  and  "  hinders 
the  development  of  trade,"  keeping  the  supply  of  journey- 
men only  at  its  present  level,  and  thus  failing  to  provide  for 
the  additional  journeymen  who  are  required  for  trade  ex- 
pansion.^ Moreover,  the  proportion  so  often  found  of  one 
apprentice  to  ten  journe3anen  is  asserted  to  be  insufficient 
even  to  maintain  the  trade  at  its  existing  level,  as  no  allow- 
ance is  made  for  those  who  do  not  become  journeymen,  or 

^  H.  C.  Hunter,  Commissioner  of  New  York  Metal  Trades  Asso- 
ciation, "  The  Open  Shop,"  in  The  Bricklayer  and  Mason,  November, 
1903,  P-  3 ;  Drage,  Trade  Unions,  pp.  163-164. 

163 


164  Admission  to  American  Trade   Unions  [618 

who  afterwards  change  to  other  trades.^  Under  such  con- 
ditions, it  is  argued,  the  effect  of  apprentice  regulations 
must  be  actually  to  diminish  the  number  of  efficient  work- 
men in  the  trade,-  and  thus  to  restrict  the  production  of 
wealth.^  In  addition  the  apprentice  restriction  tends  to 
limit  unfairly  the  opportunity  of  boys  to  enter  a  skilled 
trade  and  to  secure  remunerative  employment.* 

Another  complaint  against  trade  unionism  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  arbitrary  requirements  for  admission  exclude 
qualified  workers  as  well  as  unqualified,  and  that  in  such 
cases  union  employers  are  limited  to  a  definitely  fixed  supply 
and  are  unable  to  obtain  additional  workmen  when  business 
expands.^  It  must  be  recognized,  however,  that  restricting 
the  number  of  unionists  by  "  closing "  the  union  does  not 
necessarily  affect  the  prosperity  of  the  trade  under  union 
control  unless  the  union  also  demands  and  enforces  the  ex- 
clusive employment  of  its  members  under  the  closed-shop 
rule.*^  In  such  cases  the  union  is  likely  to  be  viewed  with 
suspicion  on  the  ground  of  "  attempted  monopoly  ;"^  it  is 

^  Atkinson,  "  Trusts  and  Trade  Unions,"  in  Political  Science  Quar- 
terly, June,  1904,  p.  217.  See  also  an  article  by  Sanger,  "  The  Fair 
Number  of  Apprentices  in  a  Trade,"  in  Economic  Journal,  December, 
1895,  p.  616.  After  a  calculation  on  actuarial  grounds,  Mr.  Sanger 
believes  that  a  ratio  of  nine  journeymen  to  one  apprentice  would  be 
reasonable  only  on  the  supposition,  which  is  less  likely  to  be  true  in 
America  than  in  England,  that  the  trade  is  stationary. 

'  Drage,  p.  164. 

'  Robert  Schalkenbach,  chairman  executive  committee  of  the 
American  Liberty  and  Property  Association,  in  New  York  Sun, 
November  28,  191 1. 

*  Monthly  Circular  [Stone  Cutters],  December,  1891,  p.  15. 

'  Henry  White,  general  secretary  of  the  United  Garment  Workers, 
in  an  article  on  "  The  Solution  of  Industrial  Problems  through 
Associated  Action,"  in  The  Bricklayer  and  Mason,  November,  1903, 
p.  7,  said,  "  When  unions  combine  with  employers  to  mulct  the 
public  and  seek  by  charging  exorbitant  initiation  fees  and  .  .  .  un- 
duly restricting  apprentices  to  keep  out  of  a  trade  the  number  of 
artisans  required  ...  they  are  exceeding  their  limits,  perverting 
their  power  and  doing  what  they  condemn  others  for  doing." 

'^  Stockton,  "  The  Closed  Shop  in  American  Trade  Unions,"  in 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political 
Science,  Ser.  XXIX,  No.  3,  pp.  168-169. 

'  Statement  of  T.  F.  Woodlock,  editor  of  the  Wall  Street  Journal, 
quoted  in  The  Bricklayer  and  Mason,  November,  1903,  p.  2. 


619]  Conclusion  165 

then  in  restraint  of  both  production  and  trade,  and  is  a 
menace  to  prosperity.^ 

In  reply  to  these  criticisms  unionists  disclaim  any  re- 
striction beyond  that  which  has  regard  for  the  needs  of  a 
trade.  The  arguments  advanced  for  limiting  the  number  of 
apprentices  proceed  on  the  assumption  that  by  such  limita- 
tion the  unions  secure  an  all-round  training  in  the  trade  for 
the  apprentice,  prevent  the  employer  from  substituting 
cheap  labor  under  the  guise  of  apprenticeship,  and  adjust 
the  supply  of  labor  to  the  demand  at  the  union  level  of 
wages.  It  is  also  flatly  denied  that  a  union  attempts  to  es- 
tablish a  monopoly  so  long  as  it  "  opens  wide  its  doors  "  to 
additional  members.^ 

In  explanation  of  these  apparently  conflicting  assertions 
it  may  be  said  that  opponents  of  apprentice  regulations  have 
in  mind  extreme  cases  of  limitation,  while  unionists  regard 
some  limitation  as  actually  defensible.  The  advocates  of  re- 
striction of  numbers  take  the  ground  that  "  to  the  trade 
unionist  the  apprentice  question  is  the  wage  question,"  and 
that  in  the  interest  of  the  learners  themselves  absolutely  free 
entrance  to  a  trade  is  not  desirable.^  The  worker  spends 
time  in  obtaining  the  necessary  skill,  and  should  be  reason- 
ably assured  that  when  he  becomes  a  journeyman  he  will  be 
able  to  make  a  living  in  a  trade  without  a  declining  wage 
rate.  Moreover,  it  is  pointed  out  that  unions  which  have 
a  controlling  voice  in  determining  the  number  of  appren- 
tices— namely,  unions  in  the  glass  trades,  potteries,  iron 
molding,  and  building  trades — do  take  into  consideration 


^  Seligman,  "  The  Closed  Shop,"  in  The  Labor  Compendium, 
August  14,  1904,  p.  I.  Professor  J.  R.  Commons,  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  American  Economic  Association,  said,  "  Much  can  be 
said  for  a  closed  shop  if  the  union  is  open,  but  a  closed  shop  with  a 
closed  union  cannot  be  defended"  (Proceedings,  American  Eco- 
nomic Association,  1905,  p.  145). 

^  E.  A.  Mofifett  affirms :  "  The  union  shop  ...  is  not  a  monopoly. 
Castle  Garden  proves  it.  .  .  .  Tt  is  not  a  closed  shop.  It  is  wide  open 
to  any  workingman  who  is  willing  to  helo  maintain  the  superior  con- 
ditions which  attract  him"  (Editorial,  in  The  Bricklayer  and  Mason, 
November,  1903,  p.  5). 

'Hayes,  "Trade  Unions  and  Apprentices,"  in  Retail  Clerks' 
Advocate,  April,  1903,  p.  3. 


1 66  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [620 

the  need  of  the  trades  for  workmen  in  that  apprenticeship 
regulations  are  agreed  upon  usually  in  conferences  between 
employers  and  employees.^  This  form  of  joint  agreement  is 
found  in  an  increasing  number  of  cases.^ 

There  are  undoubtedly  some  unions  which  have  unduly 
restricted  the  number  of  apprentices  and  apparently  disre- 
garded the  needs  of  the  trade  for  workers.^  On  the  other 
hand,  employers  have  agreed  apparently  with  readiness  to 
union  proposals  that  for  a  stated  period  additional  appren- 
tices shall  not  be  admitted,*  while  there  are  also  instances  in 
which  employers  are  unwilling  to  take  on  as  many  appren- 
tices as  the  union  ratio  permits.®  In  further  refutation  of 
the  charge  of  attempted  monopoly,  unionists  assert  that  the 
trade  unions  did  not  invent  the  system  of  apprenticeship,  and 
that  in  most  trades  under  the  influence  of  modern  industrial 
changes  the  system  is  giving  place  to  other  forms  of  train- 
ing.*'    If  reference  be  made  to  a  preceding  chapter,^  it  will 

*  Hayes,  p.  4.  See  also  the  Eleventh  Special  Report  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor,  1904,  p.  22;  Proceedings,  Glass  Bottle  Blowers, 
1909,  pp.  35,  36. 

^  Motley,  p.  106. 

*  For  example,  the  president  of  the  Window  Glass  Workers'  Local 
Assembly  No.  300  reported  as  follows :  "  While  we  should  guard 
well  the  apprentice  laws  we  should  allow  enough  to  learn  to  keep 
the  places  filled  or  have  enough  men  to  supply  the  demand,  which 
we  have  not  had  in  the  last  two  years,  as  every  preceptory  is  well 
aware"  (Proceedings,  1886,  pp.  11-12).  See  also  Proceedings,  1889, 
pp.  21-22. 

Similarly,  in  1907  the  president  of  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers' 
Association  reported  that  the  association  had  been  unable  to  supply 
the  employers  with  blowers,  and  said,  "  Demands  for  workmen 
became  so  frequent  and  emphatic  that  something  had  to  be  done 
toward  filling  places,  or  else  furnish  the  manufacturers  with  an  un- 
answerable argument  for  more  apprentices."  To  meet  the  demand  a 
loan  of  apprentices  on  the  next  season's  quota  of  journeymen  was 
authorized  (Proceedings,  1907,  pp.  49-149). 

In  1906  the  international  secretaries  of  the  United  Brewery  Work- 
men reported  as  follows :  "  We  are  filling  the  demand  for  practical 
brewers  with  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  demand.  Many  local  unions 
will  not  tolerate  any  apprentices  whatever  in  the  breweries"  (Pro- 
ceedings, 1906,  p.  103). 

*  Proceedings,  Glass  Bottle  Blowers,  1909,  pp.  35,  203.  See  also 
Proceedings,  Operative  Potters,  1902,  p.  63;  Proceedings,  1909,  pp. 
46,  47 ;  Motley,  p.  92. 

°  Mitchell,  Organized  Labor,  p.  62. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  260,  263. 
^  See  p.  39  et  seq. 


62 1]  Conclusion  167 

be  noted  that  but  a  very  small  number  of  unions  are  able 
effectively  to  control  the  regulation  of  apprenticeship.  In 
many  trades  the  regulations  are  disregarded,  or  are  enforced 
in  only  a  portion  of  the  trade,  while  journeymen  in  some 
cases  are  allowed  to  teach  their  own  sons  without  restriction. 
In  the  cases  in  which  the  ratio  enforced  is  apparently  below 
the  needs  of  a  trade  for  workmen,  allowance  must  be  made 
for  the  fact  that  skilled  immigrant  workmen  and  appren- 
tices may  enter  the  trades  through  non-union  establishments. 
In  the  unions  which  do  attempt  regulation  the  restriction 
below  the  need  of  the  trades  is  probably  inconsiderable.^ 

In  so  far  as  apprenticeship  regulations  have  for  their  ob- 
ject the  thorough  technical  education  of  the  workmen  they 
must  be  regarded  as  purely  beneficial  to  a  trade.  Unionists 
have  continuously  avowed  this  object  to  be  of  equal  impor- 
tance with  the  other  purpose  of  limiting  numbers.^  Repre- 
sentatives of  both  employer  and  employed  support  the  ap- 
prenticeship system  on  this  ground.^ 

The  legal  right  of  any  voluntary  association  to  restrict  its 
membership  by  any  criterion  whatsoever  is  well  established.* 

*  Mitchell  cites  the  result  of  an  investigation  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb,  which  revealed  that  the  British  trade  unions  actually  and 
effectively  restricting  the  admission  of  apprentices  below  the  need 
of  trades  for  workmen  represented  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  all 
unionists  in  England.  He  considers  that  the  percentage  in  the  United 
States  is  probably  smaller  fp.  262). 

'  Proceedings,  Iron  Holders,  1867,  p.  14.  President  Fox  of  the 
Iron  Molders'  Union  in  1895  said :  "  To  limit  the  number  learning 
the  trade  should  not  be  so  much  our  aim  as  to  control  them  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  compel  the  employer  to  make  a  mechanic  out  of 
his  apprentice,  and  in  this  every  member  ought  to  assist  that  he  may 
become  proficient.  .  .  .  There  would  be  less  cause  to  complain  of 
incompetency"  (Proceedings,  1895,  pp.  19-20). 

President  Hayes  of  the  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Association  re- 
ported :  "  The  number  of  general  workmen  in  our  association  has 
yearly  grown  less,  and  at  the  present  rate  of  decrease  we  will  soon 
have  an  association  of  specialists.  This  is  not  wise.  It  should  be 
obligatory  for  apprentices  when  indentured  to  be  taught  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  glass  trade  beyond  merely  making  one  kind  of  ware  " 
(Proceedings,  1899,  p.  21).  See  also  The  Potter's  Herald,  May  25, 
1905.  p.  4- 

*  Drage,  p.  145. 

*  Probably  the  first  case  in  which  the  question  was  passed  upon  by 
a  high  court  of  appeal  was  that  of  Mayer  v.  Journe\'men  Stone 
Cutters'  Association,  in  which  the  New  Jersey  court  of  chancery 


i68  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [622 

Union  admission  regulations  for  the  purpose  of  arbitrarily 
monopolizing  employment  are  of  infrequent  occurrence.  At 
times  local  unions  within  certain  trades  have  exhibited  a 
disposition  to  "  gain  an  advantage  for  the  insiders  over  the 
outsiders."^  Unionists  defend  the  imposition  of  special 
high  initiation  fees  to  a  limited  extent."  Under  the  leader- 
ship of  national  officers  and  in  consequence  of  a  tendency 
toward  increasing  national  control  of  admission,  as  pointed 
out  in  a  preceding  chapter,^  local  exclusiveness  is  increas- 
ingly discountenanced.  Although  high  and  prohibitive  fees 
for  foreigners  are  justified  by  unionists  as  necessary  to  pre- 
vent a  lowering  of  the  living  wage,  they  are  of  questionable 
validity  in  so  far  as  they  debar  well-qualified  immigrant 
workmen  from  any  trade.  Certain  unions  also  attempt  spe- 
cifically to  exclude  specialized  workmen,  women,  immi- 
grants, and  negroes  from  membership  with  a  view  to  debar- 
ring them  from  the  trades.  We  have,  however,  seen  that 
the  great  majority  of  unions  have  gradually  adopted  a  policy 
of  inclusion  relative  to  the  admission  of  these  classes. 

Monopolistic  motives  have  usually  been  attributed  to 
unions  which  impose  restrictive  requirements  for  admission 
and  at  the  same  time  attempt  the  enforcement  of  union  mem- 
bership through  the  closed-shop  policy.     The  objections  to 

held  that  a  trade  union  may  make  membership  "  as  exclusive  as  it 
sees  fit ;  it  may  make  the  restriction  on  the  line  of  citizenship,  nation- 
ality, age,  creed,  or  profession,  as  well  as  numbers  "  (47  N.  J.  Eq. 
Rep.  519).     See  also  Pickett  v.  Walsh,  1902  Mass.  585. 

^47  N.  J.  Eq.  Rep.  519;  Report  of  Industrial  Commission^  Vol. 
XVII,  1902,  p.  817.  The  New  York  Journeymen  Stone  Cutters' 
Association  closed  the  union  in  1901.  A  special  edition  of  the  Stone 
Cutters'  journal,  July  15,  1901,  was  published  containing  protests 
from  various  other  local  associations  throughout  the  country.  The 
editor  and  secretary  of  the  national  association  said :  "  New  York 
closed  her  books  through  no  other  feeling  but  greed  and  hoggish- 
ness;  and  because  times  are  booming  with  them."  See  also  Brauer- 
Zeitung,  March  24,  1906,  p.  4;  The  Bakers'  Journal  and  Deutsch- 
Americanische  Backer  Zeitung,  February  22,  1908,  p.  2;  Proceedings, 
Musicians,  1903,  p.  95. 

' "  To  a  certain  extent,  it  may  be  fair  to  capitalize  the  past  sacri- 
fices of  members  of  the  union  and  it  may  be  necessary  by  reasonable 
high  initiation  fees  to  moderate  a  too  rapid  or  too  sudden  rush  into 
a  trade  "  (Mitchell,  p.  283). 

^  See  p.  29  et  seq. 


623]  Conclusion  169 

the  closed  shop  as  a  trade-union  device  would  then  apply  to 
exclusive  admission  regulations.  In  such  cases  the  work- 
men excluded  from  membership,  the  employers,  and  the 
public  might  be  injured.  But  the  closed  shop  is  but  par- 
tially enforced  in  the  majority  of  trades,  and  that  with 
difficulty.^  On  the  other  hand,  a  union  like  the  Locomotive 
Engineers  or  the  Locomotive  Firemen  may  be  monopolistic 
without  demanding  the  exclusive  employment  of  unionists 
under  the  closed-shop  rule  and  without  closing  its  doors 
to  the  admission  of  additional  workmen  merely  by  includ- 
ing within  its  membership  practically  all  the  workmen  within 
the  trade.  A  union  with  such  control  of  workmen  in  a 
skilled  trade  would  be  enabled  to  dictate  injuriously  as  to 
the  conditions  and  conduct  of  the  trade.  The  glass  trades 
unions,  the  Operative  Potters,  the  United  Hatters,  the  Ele- 
vator Constructors,  the  Print  Cutters,  the  Steel  Plate  Trans- 
ferrers, the  Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers,  the  Cutting  Die 
and  Cutter  Makers,  the  Machine  Printers  and  Color  Mixers, 
the  Lace  Operatives,  the  Wood  Carvers,  and  the  Wire 
Weavers  probably  approach  nearest  to  complete  control  of 
the  workmen  in  their  respective  trades.  A  proposed  method 
of  dealing  with  unions  of  a  monopolistic  tendency  will  be 
noticed  in  the  third  part  of  the  present  discussion. 

(2)  Admission  regulations  and  the  excluded  zvorkmen. — 
The  exclusion  of  incompetent  workmen  from  union  member- 
ship is  claimed  by  the  unions  to  be  conducive  to  the  interests 
of  the  union,  the  employer,  and  the  workmen  themselves. 
Unionists  feel  that  the  incompetent  member  "  reflects  dis- 
credit on  the  organization,"  and  especially  upon  the  initiating 
local  union. ^  An  incompetent  workman  is  unable  to  render 
satisfactory  service  to  his  employer,  and  experiences  the  in- 
convenience of  being  shifted  from  one  job  to  another  and 
of  frequently  changing  employers.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  a  qualified  workman  is  denied  admission  and,  under 
the  closed-shop  rule,  even  deprived  of  work,  the  action  of 

^  Stockton,  pp.  166,  167,  181. 

'  Iron  Holders'  Journal,  January,  1895,  p.  12. 


I/O  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions         [624 

the  union  is  to  be  condemned  on  the  ground  of  its  interfer- 
ence with  the  right  of  every  man  to  work.  In  such  a  case 
the  excluded  person  may  find  employment  only  in  non-union 
establishments.  But  if  the  union  has  virtual  control  of  the 
trade,  exclusion  from  membership  means  complete  loss  of 
opportunity  to  work.  Instances  in  which  the  power  of  ex- 
clusion has  been  so  exercised  as  to  debar  qualified  workmen 
and  to  force  them  into  less  remunerative  or  less  skilled  em- 
ployment are,  however,  comparatively  rare.  The  posses- 
sion of  this  power  is  liable  to  abuse,  and  the  unions  exer- 
cising it  are  under  the  necessity  of  justifying  their  actions 
in  every  case  of  exclusion. 

Expulsion  from  membership  through  the  regular  en- 
forcement of  disciplinary  regulations  designed  to  promote 
the  legitimate  aims  of  unionism  is  essential  to  discipline,  and 
is  recognized  in  law.^  Irregularities  in  disciplining  mem- 
bers by  suspension  and  expulsion  and  the  resulting  litiga- 
tion in  the  courts  have  tended  to  make  unions  sensible  of 
their  responsibility  in  thus  excluding  members.  Rules  of 
procedure  and  courts  of  appeal  within  the  union  are  now 
generally  established.  To  the  extent  that  national  unions 
have  control  over  local  unions,  debarred  members  have  an 
opportunity  to  appeal  and  to  secure  impartial  reconsidera- 
tion of  their  claims  to  membership.  It  is  incumbent  upon 
unions  to  act  generously  toward  offenders  in  order  to  retain 
their  strength,  and  the  unions  generally  make  terms  for  ad- 
justing differences  with  former  members.^ 

(3)  Admission  regulations  and  trade  unionism. — All  trade 
unions  make  it  a  part  of  their  practical  program  to  obtain 
control  of  as  large  a  proportion  as  possible  of  workmen  in 

^  See,  for  example,  Weiss  et  al.  v.  Musical  Mutual  Protective 
Union,  189  Pa.  St.  446.  In  an  opinion  on  a  case  of  illegal  expulsion 
the  court  of  errors  and  appeals  of  New  Jersey  in  1906  held  that  the 
consent  of  the  workmen  to  discipline  was  implied  by  mere  member- 
ship in  the  union  only  "  if  carried  out  in  good  faith  and  without 
malice,  through  the  methods  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  associa- 
tion and  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  national  justice" 
(Brennan  v.  United  Hatters'  Local  Union  No.  17,  73  N.  J.  L.  729), 

^  See  above,  p.  151  et  seq. 


625] 


Conclusion  171 


the  various  trades.^  A  "  cordial  invitation  "  to  join  is  ordi- 
narily extended  to  non-unionists.^  We  have  already  noted 
that  trade-union  policy  has  for  the  most  part  been  one  of 
expediency  with  reference  to  new  classes  of  workers  en- 
tering a  trade  and  applying  for  admission.  Persons  who 
may  not  have  served  a  regular  apprenticeship,  workmen 
capable  of  earning  the  usual  wages,  women,  immigrant 
workmen,  and  negroes  have  in  turn  been  recognized  by 
unions  in  the  great  majority  of  trades,  apparently  because 
of  the  necessity  of  self-protection,  and  in  spite  of  frequent 
stubborn  resistance  within  union  ranks.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  accomplishment  of  the  fundamental  object  of  trade 
unionism  is  dependent  on  the  comprehensiveness  of  its  mem- 
bership. This  fact  compels  the  enforcement  of  open,  liberal, 
and  not  unduly  restrictive  admission  regulations.     On  the 

^  For  example,  the  secretary  of  the  Bricklayers'  and  Masons' 
International  Union  in  1898  reported  that  the  union  had  only  about 
one  eighth  of  the  workmen  in  the  craft,  and  made  the  following 
plea :  "  This  should  not  be  so.  They  should  be  with  us,  and  then  we 
could  be  entire  masters  of  the  situation  and  dictate  our  terms  and 
policy.  .  .  .  Every  man  outside  of  the  organization  stands  as  a 
menace  to  its  prosperity.  .  .  .  We  should  adopt  a  more  constructive 
method  to  keep  and  protect  our  members  and  go  into  the  recruiting 
field  for  others"  (Semi-Annual  Report,  June  30,  1898,  pp.  3,  4). 
Again  in  1906  the  secretary  made  a  similar  recommendation :  "  We 
urge  upon  subordinate  unions  the  necessity  of  making  at  least  an 
effort  to  prevail  upon  those  outside  the  pale  of  organization  to  join 
with  us.  Your  executive  board  is  at  all  times  ready  to  join  in  this 
strengthening  work.  .  .  .  We  want  them  all  with  us"  (Semi-Annual 
Report,  June  30,  1906,  p.  8). 

In  1903  the  president  of  the  International  Association  of  Ma- 
chinists, in  recommending  an  extension  of  its  membership  jurisdic- 
tion, said:  "The  miner  claims  jurisdiction  over  every  man,  woman 
and  child  employed  in  or  about  the  mines.  The  printer  makes  the 
same  claim  in  the  printing  office,  and  the  molders  have  taken  into 
membership  the  coremakers.  The  brewery  workers  claim  control 
over  all  employees  in  or  about  the  breweries.  The  steel  workers  in- 
sist that  all  those  employed  in  the  steel  and  iron  industry  shall  be 
members,  and  so  on,  I  might  cite  organization  after  organization. 
It  is  now  up  to  the  International  Association  of  Machinists  to  take 
complete  charge  of  the  machine  shop  "  (Report  of  President,  in  The 
Machinists'  Monthly  Journal,  June,  1903,  p.  484). 

'  Thus  President  Perkins  of  the  Cigar  Makers'  International  Union 
made  this  recommendation:  "If  you  know  of  a  cigar  maker  who  is 
outside  the  pale  of  the  union,  speak  kindly  to  him,  show  him  by 
courteous  treatment  and  fair  argument  the  error  of  his  course " 
(Editorial,  Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,  March,  1894,  P-  8). 


172  Admission  to  American   Trade   Unions  [626 

other  hand,  trade-union  leaders  appreciate  that  the  imme- 
diate aim  of  the  unionist — to  maintain  the  level  of  wages — 
may  also  be  subserved  by  restricting  the  supply  of  labor 
within  any  trade  and  by  regulating  its  distribution  over 
different  localities.  Apprenticeship  restrictions  and  the  at- 
tempted exclusion  of  certain  classes  of  workers  from  a  trade 
rest  on  this  basis.  The  trade-union  position  with  reference 
to  admission  into  a  trade  results  consequently  in  a  compro- 
mise between  what  the  union  can  afford  to  do  and  what  it 
would  like  to  do.  In  order  to  maintain  wages  the  union 
seeks  to  include  all  workmen  within  its  trade,  but  it  is  in- 
terested with  the  same  purpose  in  view  in  checking  an  undue 
increase  in  the  available  number  of  workmen. 

The  ultimate  success  and  the  larger  interests  of  trade 
unionism,  however,  negative  the  possibility  of  successfully 
debarring  workmen  from  union  membership  by  arbitrary 
restrictions,  for  the  presence  in  the  market  of  non-unionist 
competitors  "  is  fatal  to  the  method  of  collective  bargain- 
ing."^ Apprenticeship  and  restrictive  admission  regulations 
must,  therefore,  yield  in  favor  of  a  policy  of  inclusion,  so 
long  as  other  workers  may  be  substituted  by  employers  for 
unionists.  If  an  employer  is  able  to  choose  other  workers 
than  unionists  at  lower  rates  than  unionists  demand,  the  pur- 
pose of  the  trade  union  may  be  defeated.  The  ideal  of 
trade  unions,  therefore,  is  to  acquire  complete  control  of  the 
workers  within  each  trade  through  liberal  admission  regu- 
lations in  order  to  limit  this  freedom  of  the  employer  to 
turn  from  one  to  another  worker.^ 

Since  the  avowed  aim  of  trade  unions  is  to  embrace  the 
entire  limits  of  each  trade  and  either  by  voluntary  or  com- 
pulsory unionization  of  industry  to  secure  equal  power  with 
the  employer  in  bargaining,  some  writers  class  every  com- 
bination of  workmen  as  a  form  of  monopoly.^     Opponents 


*  Webb,  Industrial  Democracy,  p.  472. 

*  McNeill,  "  Trade  Union  Ideals,"  in  Proceedings  of  the  Amer- 
ican Economic  Association,  1902,  p.  216;  Commons,  "Restrictions  by 
Trade  Unions,"  in  The  Outlook,  October  27,  1906,  p.  471. 

*  Bolen,  Plain  Facts  as  to  the  Trusts  and  the  Tariff,  p.  185 ;  Eliot, 
The  Conflict  between  Individualism  and  Collectivism  in  a  Democ- 
racy, pp.  14,  16. 


627]  Conclusion  173 

of  union  methods  of  action  particularly  assign  monopolistic 
motives  to  trade-union  policies.  Unionists,  however,  deny 
that  the  trade  union  is  in  any  sense  a  "  labor  monopoly  "  or 
"  labor  trust,"  inasmuch  as  it  "  opens  wide  its  door  to  every 
man  in  the  craft."^  We  have  already  seen  that  with  the  ex- 
ception of  isolated  instances  of  local  exclusiveness,  trade 
unions  in  practice  are  and  in  ultimate  aim  must  be  inclusive 
in  their  admission  policy.  It  is,  therefore,  inexact  to  allude 
to  the  typical  trade  union  as  a  monopoly  by  reason  of  its 
restrictive  admission  regulations.  A  union  which  has  con- 
trol of  practically  all  the  w'orkmen  in  a  trade  and  admits  or 
refuses  to  admit  additional  members  is  in  a  similar  position 
to  an  industrial  trust  only  in  the  bare  idea  of  possible  com- 
mon control  of  the  product.  Even  here  the  strongest  union 
difters  from  a  trust,  among  other  fundamental  particulars, 
in  the  important  sense  that  it  "  neither  produces  nor  in  any 
direct  way  controls  the  production  of  labor  itself."^  In 
their  efforts  to  regulate  and  distribute  the  supply  of  work- 
men, trade  unions  have  never  made  it  a  part  of  their  prac- 
tical policy  to  influence  the  growth  of  population. 

When  a  trade  union  by  thorough  organization  obtains 
complete  control  of  the  workmen  within  its  jurisdiction,  its 
position  may  become  dangerously  powerful.  Such  a  union 
would  be  enabled  through  the  enforcement  of  the  closed 
shop  and  prohibitive  requirements  for  admission  to  restrict 
all  freedom  of  labor  and  capital  in  the  industry.  The  wis- 
dom of  entrusting  such  great  power  to  unregulated  private 
associations  is  questioned  because  of  the  liability  of  its  abuse 
by   short-sighted    leaders.^      It   has   accordingly   been    sug- 

^  Stone  Cutters'  Journal,  May,  1906,  p.  2.  In  a  discussion  upon  the 
question  of  getting  rid  of  helpers  in  the  plumbing  trade  a  delegate 
at  the  convention  of  the  United  Association  of  Phimbers  in  1904 
said :  "  You  can  call  this  organization  by  whatever  name  you  please, 
but  ...  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  labor  trust.  .  .  .  We  have  to 
adopt  the  methods  adopted  by  the  modern  trusts  in  the  commercial 
world.  The  first  thing  that  they  do  in  order  to  increase  their  profits 
is  to  control  the  business"   (Proceedings,  1904,  p.  104). 

*  Macgregor,  Industrial  Combination,  p.  178. 

*  White,  p.  7 ;  Seligman,  p.  i ;  Bullock,  "  The  Closed  Shop,"  in 
Atlantic  Monthly,  October,  1904,  pp.  437,  438. 


174  Admission  to  American  Trade  Unions  [628 

gested  that  in  the  public  interest  the  state  might  assume  con- 
trol along  the  entire  line  of  trade-union  policy/  as  in  Aus- 
tralasia/ and  legally  regulate  admission  rules  so  that  union 
membership  might  remain  reasonably  open.^  State  regula- 
tion, however,  is  not  likely  to  succeed  private  control  until 
trade  unions  have  attained  more  noteworthy  proportions. 
Probably  at  no  time  have  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the 
wage-earners  of  the  United  States  been  unionized;*  and  at 
present,  as  the  great  majority  of  trades  are  but  partially 
organized,  the  unions  are  "open"  organizations. 

^  Seager,  Discussion  on  the  Open  or  the  Closed  Shop,  in  Proceed- 
ings of  the  American  Economic  Association,  1905,  pp.  214-215 ;  Com- 
mons, "  Restrictions  by  Trade  Unions,"  in  The  Outlook,  October  27, 
1904,  p.  471. 

'  Rossignol  and  Stewart,  "  Compulsory  Arbitration  in  New  Zea- 
land," in  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  August,  1910,  p.  664. 

*  Wise,  The  Commonwealth  of  Australia,  p.  308. 

*  Hibbard,  "  The  Necessity  of  an  Open  Shop,"  in  Proceedings  of 
American  Economic  Association,  1905,  p.  183,  quoting  the  New 
York  Times. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Edith  (quoted),  75 
(note),  80  (note). 

Actors'  National  Protective  Un- 
ion, 99. 

Admission  regulations  and  trade 
prosperity,  163-169;  and  the 
excluded  workmen,  169-170; 
and  trade  unionism,  170-174. 

Age-limit  in  apprenticeship,  40- 
42. 

Aliens,  as  trade-union  members, 
96-111;  unrestricted  admission 
of,  98-100;  restricted  admis- 
sion of,   lOO-III. 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
84  (and  note),  117-118,  123. 

"Amnestj',"  14-15,  158-160. 

Andrews,  J.  B., quoted, 80  (note). 

Appeal,  right  of,  13,  22,  29-31, 
65,  93,  128  (note),  142  (notes), 
145-146. 

Apprenticeship,  admission  by, 
34-60 ;  motives  for  establishing 
apprenticeship  requirement, 
35 ;  unions  not  requiring  it, 
35-39;  terms  of  apprentice- 
ship, 39-45;  relation  of  ap- 
prentices to  union,  45-60. 

Atlantic  Coast  Seamen's  Union, 

102,  145. 

Bakery  and  Confectionery 
Workers'  International  Un- 
ion, 21,  26,  27,  45,  52,  69-70, 
87,  93    (and  note),    loi,   102- 

103,  107,  123,  135  (note),  137, 
141,  144  (and  note),  145 
(note),  147,  160-161. 

Balloting  for  members,  28-29. 

Baltimore  Typographical  So- 
ciety, II. 

Barbers'  International  Union, 
Journeymen,  21,  29,  44,  52,  71, 
85,  86,  99,  123,  124  (and  note), 
130,  132,  137,  139,  144- 

Black  and  White  Smiths'  Bene- 
ficial Society,  Journeymen 
(Philadelphia),    143    (note). 


Blacksmiths  and  Helpers,  Inter- 
national Brotherhood  of,  29, 
3.0,  38,  47,  99- 

Boiler  Makers  and  Iron  Ship 
Builders,  Brotherhood  of,  28, 
38-39,  40,  41,  44,  4^-47,  55-56, 
72  (note),  99,  117,  119,  120 
(and  note),  133,  I53- 

Bookbinders,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  26,  50,  93 
(and  note),  99,  iii    (note). 

Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Local 
Union  No.  133  (Chicago), 
161. 

Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union, 
21,  22,  23-24,  29,  30,  31,  36,  37, 
63,  67,  87,  88,  99,  107,  122 
(note),  138  (note),  146,  147, 
151-152,  153,  154,  161. 

Bowen,  President  William  J., 
quoted,  28   (note). 

Box  Makers  and  Sawyers, 
United  Order  of,  30,  87. 

Brewery  Workmen,  Interna- 
tional Union  of  the  United,  26 
(note),  41,  47,  52,  70  (note), 
87,  93  (and  note),  loo-ioi, 
102  (and  note),  103,  105,  107 
(and  note),  log,  no  (and 
note),  III,  122  (note),  136, 
138,  141,  142,  166  (note). 

Brewery  Workmen's  Local  Un- 
ion No.  109  (Fort  Worth), 
142   (note). 

Brewery  Workmen's  Local  Un- 
ion No.  147  (Columbus,  O.), 
145   (note). 

Brick,  Tile  and  Terra  Cotta 
Workers'  Alliance,  Interna- 
tional, 99. 

Bricklayers  and  Masons'  Inter- 
national Union,  13.  16.  19,  20- 
21,  23-24,  27,  28  (and  note), 
30,  38,  41  (and  note),  42 
(note),  44-  50-5I,  52,  53  (and 
note),  65.  68,  6g,  72  (and 
note),  loo-ioi,  102,  108,  no 
(note),    114,    119    (and  note), 


175 


176 


Index 


[630 


123,  124-125,  126,  127,  128- 
129,  140,  144  (and  note),  155, 
158,  160,  171   (note). 

Bricklayers  and  Masons'  Local 
Union  No.  3  (Newark),  55. 

Bricklayers  and  Masons'  Local 
Union  No.  11  (St.  Louis),  50 
(note). 

Bricklayers  and  Masons'  Local 
Union  No.  30  (New  York 
City),  100  (note). 

Bricklayers  and  Masons'  Local 
Union  No.  35  (New  York 
City),  loi   (note). 

Bricklayers'  National  Union  of 
the  United  States  of  America, 
see  Bricklayers  and  Masons' 
International  Union  of 
America. 

Bridge  and  Structural  Iron 
Workers,  International  Asso- 
ciation of,  21,  44,  51,  69,  7Z> 
96-97,  128-129,  161. 

Broom  and  Whisk  Makers'  Un- 
ion, International,  40,  44,  52, 
122   (note). 

Car  Workers,  International  As- 
sociation of,  31,  36,  99,  100 
(note),  118  (note). 

Card  system,  13,  19,  23,  71-73, 
107-109,  128-130. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners,  Amal- 
gamated Society  of,  24,  29,  99, 
147. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners'  Local 
Union  No.   165    (Pittsburgh), 

155- 

Carpenters  and  Joiners,  United 
Brotherhood  of  21,  25-26,  29, 
31,  41,  44,  45,  50,  51,  66,  99, 
loi,  123,  124  (and  note),  125, 
126,  128-129,  130,  135  (note), 
141,  144,  145,  146,  147,  148 
(and  note),  I54,  I55,  I59- 

Cement  Workers,  Brotherhood 
of,  68,  99,  123. 

Cigar  Makers'  International  Un- 
ion, 13,  14,  16,  17-18,  20,  21,  24, 
26,  30,  Z7,  44,  52-53,  54  (note), 
62,  63,  79-81,87,93  (and  note), 
99,  107,  114,  119,  123,  124 
(note),  128,  130,  132,  133,  136, 
137,  139,  152-153,  154.  158,  159. 

Cigar  Makers'  Local  Union  No. 


55  (Hamilton,  Ont.),  54  (note), 
88. 

"  Closed  "  union,   164-169. 

Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers, 
United,  89,  91,  99,  100  (and 
note),  136. 

Coal  Hoisting  Engineers,  Na- 
tional Brotherhood  of,  36. 

Commercial  Telegraphers'  Un- 
ion, 21,  22  (and  note),  31,  87, 
96-97,  117,  119,  133,  145- 

Commons,  J.  R.,  quoted,  165 
(note). 

Competency,  admission  by,  61- 
72  'y  specialized  workmen,  62- 
64;  dislike  of  incompetency, 
64-65;  tests  of  competency  for 
new  members,  65-71 ;  for 
transferred  members,  71-73. 

Composition  Roofers,  Damp  and 
Waterproof  Workers,  Inter- 
national Brotherhood  of,  99. 

Compressed  Air  Workers'  Un- 
ion, International,  99,  100 
(note),  147- 

Coopers'  International  Union,  31, 
99,  116,  123,  128. 

Cutting  Die  and  Cutter  Makers, 
International  Union  of,  169. 

"  Daughters  of  St.  Crispin,"  82. 
Dobson,    Secretary   William,    51 

(note). 
Dues,  of  women  members,  91. 

Electrical  Workers,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  29,  66  (note), 
69  (and  note),  70  (note),  73, 
118    (note),    128-129,    154-155- 

Elevator  Constructors,  Interna- 
tional Union  of,  23  (note),  26 
(and  note),  122   (note),  169. 

Elevator  Constructors'  Local 
Union  No.  2  (Chicago),  142 
(note). 

Employers,  withdrawal  of,  from 
union  membership,   137-138. 

Employment  as  a  test  of  com- 
petency, 67-68. 

Examination  as  a  test  of  com- 
petency, 48,  68-70. 

Expulsion  from  membership, 
143-149. 

"  Fair  "  shop,  apprenticeship  in, 
58-60. 


631] 


Index 


177 


Flint  Glass  Workers'  Ujiion, 
American,  2^-2,:^,  103,  106,  no 
(note),  142,  144,  151,  153,  160. 

Foremen,  withdrawal  of,  from 
union  membership,  135-137. 

Foundry  Employees,  Interna- 
tional Brotherhood  of,  36,  99, 
123,  128. 

Fox,  President  Martin,  quoted, 
167  (note). 

Freight  Handlers,  see  Interior 
Freight  Handlers  and  Ware- 
housemen. 

Garment  Workers,  United.  27, 
36,  67,  81-82,  89,  90,  91,  93 
(and  note),  98  (note),  99,  100 
(note),   136,  144,  153. 

Gilthorpe,  W.  J.,  40    (note). 

Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Associa- 
tion, 40,  54,  57,  58,  59  (and 
note),  60,  103,  104,  106,  108, 
no  (note),  122  (note),  141. 
142,  144,  146,  151,  154,  166 
(note). 

Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  District 
Assembly  No.  149,  46. 

Glass  House  Employees,  Inter- 
national Association  of,  36. 

Glass  Workers*  International 
Association,  Amalgamated,  99, 
100  (note),  122  (note). 

Glove  Workers'  Union,  Interna- 
tional, 89,  91,  93  (and  note), 
94,  99- 

Granite  Cutters'  International 
Association,  26,  29,  51,  103, 
104,  no  (and  note),  in,  122 
(note),  139,  141,  143  (note), 
153- 

Green  Glass  Workers'  Associa- 
tion, United,  see  Glass  Bottle 
Blowers'    Association. 

Hand-Loom  Carpet  Weavers 
(New  York  City),  157  (note). 

Hat  Finishers'  Association  of 
Philadelphia  and  Camden 
County,  N.  J.,  58. 

Hatters,  United,  25  (and  note), 
30,  32,  57.  58,  60,  87,  105,  108, 
109,  no  (and  note),  in,  122 
(note),  156  (note),  161,  169. 

Hayes,  President  Denis  A., 
quoted,  167   (note). 

"Helpers,"  38-39,  40. 


Hod  Carriers  and  Building  La- 
borers' Union,  International, 
21,  36,  99. 

Horseshoers'  International  Un- 
ion, Journeymen,  99. 

Hotel  and  Restaurant  Em- 
ployees' International  Alliance 
and  Bartenders'  International 
League,  36,  99,  loi,  123,  124 
(note),  130. 

Immigration,  effect  of,  on  na- 
tive labor,  96-98. 

"  Improvers,"  38. 

Increase  in  membership,  meth- 
ods of  securing,  14,  15,  20-22. 

Initiation  fees,  25-28,  45,  91,  100, 
103-104. 

Interior  Freight  Handlers  and 
Warehousemen,  36,  99,  123, 
124  (note). 

International  Industrial  Assem- 
bly, 77  (note). 

Iron  Molders,  see  Molders'  Un- 
ion,  International. 

Iron,  Steel  and  Tin  Workers, 
National  Amalgamated  Asso- 
ciation of,  13,  15,  16,  17,  18- 
19,  29,  30,  62.  63,  64,  99.  100 
(and  nole),  114,  122  (note), 
136,  144  14s,  149.  159,  162 
(and  note). 

"  Jurisdiction    members,"    20-21. 

Kinship  qualification  in  appren- 
ticeship, 42-43. 

Knights  of  Labor,  83  (and 
note),  115-116. 

Knights  of  Labor,  District  As- 
sembly No.  49  (New  York 
City),  116. 

Knights  of  St.  Crispin,  16,  62, 
82,  114. 

Lace  Operatives,  Chartered  So- 
ciety of  the  Amalgamated,  ^2- 
2Z,  44,  45.  57.  58,  67.  103,  104, 
105,   108,  no  (note"),  161,  169. 

Ladies'  Cigar  Makers'  Union  of 
Providence,  R.  I.,  80,  100 
(note). 

Ladies'  Garment  Workers'  Un- 
ion. International,  91,  99- 

Lake  Seamen's  Union.  27. 

Lathers,   see   Wood,    Wire   and 


178 


Index 


[632 


Metal  Lathers'  International 
Union. 

Laundry  Workers,  see  Shirt, 
Waist  and  Laundry  Workers' 
International  Union. 

License  (municipal,  state,  or  na- 
tional government)  as  test  of 
competency,   70-71. 

Limitation  of  number  of  ap- 
prentices, 43-45,  163-164,  i6s- 
167. 

Lithographers'  International 
Protective  and  Beneficial  As- 
sociation, 30,  so,  103,  122 
(note),  137,  14s,  147. 

Locomotive  Engineers,  Grand 
International  Brotherhood  of, 
28,  119,  133,  161-162,  169. 

Locomotive  Firemen  and  En- 
gine Men,  Brotherhood  of, 
24,  28,  117,  119,  120,  133,  169. 

Longshoremen,  Marine  and 
Transportworkers'  Association, 
International,  36,  99,  134. 

Lord,  Eliot,  quoted,  no  (note). 

Machine  Printers  and  Color 
Mixers'  Association,  see  Wall 
Paper  Machine  Printers  and 
Color  Mixers'  Association. 

Machine  Printers'  Beneficial  As- 
sociation (Textile),  24,  32,  46, 
105,  161. 

Machinists,  International  Asso- 
ciation of,  38,  46,  52,  S3,  62 
(note),  63,  67  (note),  99,  107, 
117,  119,  120  (and  note),  132, 
133,  138,  144,  160,  171   (note). 

Maintenance-of-Way  Employes, 
International  Brotherhood  of, 
30,  36,  99,  117,  119,  120,  132, 
133- 

Marble  Workers,  International 
Association  of,  24,  27,  32,  Si- 
S2,  56,  99.  136,  161. 

Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  As- 
sociation, National,  28,  71,  loi, 
148,  161. 

Marine  Engineers'  Beneficial  As- 
sociation No.  33  (Seattle),  142 
(note). 

Master  Plumbers'  Association  of 
Connecticut,  40. 

Master  Plumbers  of  Lynn, 
Mass.,  40. 


Mayer  v.  Journeymen  Stone  Cut- 
ters' Association,   167    (note). 

Meat  Cutters  and  Butcher  Work- 
men, Amalgamated,  21,  36,  87, 
88,  99,  100  (note). 

"  Members-at-large,"  20,  21-22, 
30. 

Members,    non-beneficial,    24. 

Membership,  control  of,  by  local 
unions,  13,  15,  18;  by  national 
unions,  13-14  I5,  16,  18,  19-33, 
105-107,   156-162. 

Membership,  interchange  of,  11- 

12,  14,  71-73,  107-109,  128- 
130,  154-156. 

Membership,  reinstatement  into, 
150-162;  for  withdrawn  mem- 
bers, 150-152;  for  suspended 
members,  152-156;  for  ex- 
pelled workmen,    156-162. 

Membership,  severance  of,  135- 
149;  by  withdrawal,  13S-138; 
by  suspension,  138-143;  by  ex- 
pulsion, 143-149. 

Metal  Polishers,  Buffers,  Platers, 
Brass  Molders,  Brass  and  Sil- 
ver Workers'  International 
Union,  21,  29,  40,  44,  46,  52, 
87,  88-89,  122  (note),  136,  140. 

Mine  Workers,  United,  31,  36, 
99,  124,  130,  132. 

Mitchell,  J.,  quoted,  167  (note). 

Moffett,  E.  A.,  quoted,  165 
(note). 

Molders'  Local  Union  No.  128 
(Richmond,  Va.),  143  (note). 

Molders'    Union,    International, 

13,  14-15,  16,  21,  26  (and 
note),  29,  30,  32,  41,  44,  46, 
52,  63,  64-65,  85  (and  note), 
86,  99,  114,  122  (note),  123, 
130  (note),  135-136,  138,  139, 
140  (and  note),  143  (and 
note),  144,  145,  146,  148,  150- 
151,  153-154,  15s,  158,  159,  162 
(note). 

Mule  Spinners,  see  Spinners* 
Association,   National. 

Musicians,  American  Federation 
of,  21,  22  (note),  26,  87,  loi, 
102-103,  104,  105,  107,  no 
(and  note),  in  (note),  123, 
135  (note),  146,  161. 

National  Labor  Union,  77-78, 
98,  n3-ii4,  lis  (and  note). 


633] 


Index 


179 


National  Trade  Assembly  No. 
231,  Cloth  Cutters,  Trimmers 
and  Tailors,  Knights  of  La- 
bor, 90. 

National  Trades'  Union,  12. 

Native  labor,  effect  of  immigra- 
tion on,  96-98. 

Naturalization  as  condition  of 
membership,  100-103. 

Negro  National  Labor  Union, 
115   (note). 

Negroes  as  trade  union  mem- 
bers, history  of,  i8-ig,  112- 
118;  unions  refusing  to  admit, 
118-121;  unions  admitting,  121- 
125;  local  discrimination 
against,  125-130;  statistics  of, 
130-131 ;  explanation  of  small 
number  of,  131-134. 

New  York  Typographical  So- 
ciety (1809),  49. 

Non-union  shops,  apprenticeship 
in,  54-55- 

Painters,  Decorators  and  Pa- 
perhangers,  Brotherhood  of, 
22  (and  note),  25-26,  31,  41, 
44,  51,  66,  67,  123,  124, 125,  128, 
(and  note),  129-130,  139,  155, 
158,  161. 

Paper  Makers,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  85,  86,  87,  91. 

Paper  Mill  Workers,  see  Pulp, 
Sulphite  and  Paper  Mill 
Workers. 

Pattern  Makers'  League,  24,  26, 
27,  41,  46,  52,  53,  104,  122 
(note),  146. 

Pavers,  Rammers,  F 1  a  g  g  e  r  s. 
Bridge  and  Stone  Curb  Set- 
ters, International  Union  of, 
99.  123. 

Paving  Cutters'  Union,  41,  99, 
136. 

Pen  and  Pocket  Knife  Grinders' 
and  Finishers'  National  Un- 
ion, 42,  103. 

Perkins,  President  George  W., 
171   (note). 

Photo-Engravers,  International 
Union  of,  21,  22  (note),  50, 
122  (note),  136,  161. 

Piano  and  Organ  Workers'  In- 
ternational Union,  31,  54,  99, 
100  (note),  122   (note). 

Plasterers'    International    Asso- 


ciation, Operative,  99,  100 
(note),  104,   123,  124,  126. 

Plumbers,  Gas  Fitters,  Steam 
Fitters  and  Steam  Fitters' 
Helpers,  United  Association 
of  Journeymen,  21,  26,  27 
(note),  40,  42,  44-45,  63-64, 
66  (note),  68,  70  (note),  71, 
72,  97,  128,  129,  139-140,  147, 
151,  154,  161  (and  note),  173 
(note). 

Pope,  Jesse  E.,  quoted,  89 
(note). 

Post  Office  Clerks,  National  Fed- 
eration of,  21-22,  87,  126. 

Potters,  National  Brotherhood 
of  Operative,  55,  85,  87,  91, 
108,  109  (and  notes),  122 
(note),  142,  151,  154,  169. 

Print  Cutters'  Association,  25, 
32-33,  42,  57,  60,  103,  104  105, 
108  (and  note),  no  (note), 
136,  161,  169. 

Printers,  see  Typographical  Un- 
ion, International. 

Printing  Pressmen  and  Assist- 
ants' Union,  International,  38- 
39,  40,  50,  55,  96-97,  122  (note), 
145. 

Pulp,  Sulphite  and  Paper  Mill 
Workers,  153. 

Quarry  Workers'  International 
Union,  99. 

Railroad  Freight  Handlers, 
Brotherhood  of,  31. 

Railroad  Telegraphers,  Order 
of,  117,  119,  .133,  145,  149. 

Railroad  Trainmen,  Brother- 
hood of,  119,  133. 

Railway  Carmen,  Brotherhood 
of,  99,  119,  120,  133. 

Railway  Clerks.  International 
Association  of,  21,  22  (and 
note),  28,  117,  119,  133. 

Retail  Clerks'  International  Pro- 
tective Association,  21,  29,  87, 
91,  137-138,  153,  154. 

Sanger,  C.  P., quoted,  164  (note). 
Sanitary  Manufacturing  Potters' 

Association,  103. 
Saw  Smiths'  Union,  44,  57,  60.  97. 
Seamen's    Union,    International, 

36,  99- 


i8o 


Index 


[634 


Sheet  Metal  Workers'  Interna- 
tional Alliance,  Amalgamated, 
69  (and  note),  128,  130  (note). 

Shingle  Weavers'  Union,  Inter- 
national, 30,  41,  45,  51,  55,  87, 
151,  160. 

Ship  Carpenters'  Union  of  East 
Boston,  100  (note). 

Shipwrights,  Joiners  and  Caulk- 
ers' Union,  International,  21, 
51,  99,  100,  114,  147. 

Shirt,  Waist  and  Laundry  Work- 
ers' International  Union,  89, 
91,  93   (and  note),  99. 

Slate  and  Tile  Roofers'  Union, 
International,  loi,  no  (note), 
123. 

Sons  of  Vulcan,  United,  Na- 
tional Forge  of,  143-144,  157. 

Spinners'  Association,  National, 
24,  90  (note),  99. 

Stationary  Firemen,  Interna- 
tional Brotherhood  of,  36,  128 
(and  note). 

Statistics  of  women  in  trade- 
union  membership,  93-94;  of 
negroes,  130-131. 

Steam  Engineers,  International 
Union  of,  28,  36,  67,  71,  7S, 
129,  130  (note),  148. 

Steam,  Hot  Water  and  Power 
Pipe  Fitters  and  Helpers,  In- 
ternational Association  of,  68, 
73,  96,  129,  139,  147,  153. 

Steam  Shovel  and  Dredgemen, 
Associated  Union  of,  30. 

Steel  Plate  Transferrers'  Asso- 
ciation, 24,  29,  45,  50,  169. 

Stereotypers'  and  Electrotypers' 
Local  Union  No.  24  (Omaha), 
148. 

Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers' 
Union,  International,   50,    169. 

Stone  Cutters'  Association,  Jour- 
neymen, 26,  41,  42,  SI,  55,  99, 
103,  104,  no  (and  note),  138, 
151.  159  (and  note). 

Stove  Mounters  and  Steel  Range 
Workers'  International  Union, 

52- 
Suspension     from    membership, 

138-143- 
Switchmen's  Union,  24,  85,  117, 
119,  132,  133,  140  (note),  141, 
147,  154,  161. 


Sylvis,  President  W.  H.,  quoted, 
115  (note),  143  (note). 

Table  Knife  Grinders'  National 
Union,  43,  103,  104,  105,  no 
(note). 

Tailors'  Union,  Journeymen,  46, 

89,  90  (note),  100,  128. 
Teamsters,     International 

Brotherhood     of,      100     (and 

note),  123,  124  (note),  130,  132. 

Textile  Workers,  United,  36,  89, 

90,  100. 

Theatrical  Stage  Employees,  In- 
ternational Alliance  of,  122 
(note). 

Tin  Plate  Workers'  Interna- 
tional  Protective  Association, 

29,  136. 

Tip  Printers,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  42. 

Tobacco  Workers'  International 
Union,  21,  29,  99,  123,  124,  136, 
139,  140. 

Travellers'  Goods  and  Leather 
Novelty  Workers'  Interna- 
tional Union,  41,  44,  87,  91,  92, 

Typographia,  Deutsch-Amerika- 
nischen,  50. 

Typographical  Society  of  New 
Orleans,  119. 

Typographical  Union,  Interna- 
tional, 13,  16,  18,  20,  21,  25,  29, 

30,  44,  46,  47,  49-50,  55,  56, 
64,  68,  77.  78-79,  87-88,  92-^3, 
99,  114,  122  (note),  136,  139, 
145.  147,  154,  157,  159-160. 

Upholsterers'  International  Un- 
ion, 29,  85-86,  87,  100,  136. 

Wages,  rate  of,  a  test  of  com- 
petency, 66-67;  disparity  in, 
between  men  and  women,  92. 

Wall  Paper  Machine  Printers 
and  Color  Mixers'  Associa- 
tion, 28,  57,  169. 

Watch  Case  Engravers'  Inter- 
national Association,  52,  85. 

Weiss  et  al.  v.  Musical  Mutual 
Protective  Union,  170  (note). 

Whaley,  President  Z.  C,  quoted, 
113  (note). 

White,  Secretary  Henry,  quoted, 
164  (note). 


635] 


Index 


i8i 


Willet,  Mabel  H.,  quoted,  90,  91 
(note). 

Window  Glass  Workers'  Local 
Assembly  300,  105,  142,  166 
(note). 

Window  Glass  Workers,  Na- 
tional, 22,  43,  57,  58-59,  60, 
loi,  103-104,  105-106,  108,  no 
(note),  119. 

Window  Glass  Workers,  Uni- 
versal Federation  of,  105-106. 

Wire  Weavers'  Protective  As- 
sociation, American,  103,  104, 
105,  108,  no  (note),  117,  119, 
132,  133,  141,  169. 

Withdrawal  from  membership, 
135-138. 


Women  as  trade-union  mem- 
bers, history  of,  12,  17-18,  74- 
83 ;  regulations  of  unions  in 
regard  to,  84-93;  statistics  of, 
93-94;  explanation  of  inef- 
fectiveness of,  94-95- 

Women's  Typographical  Union, 

Wood  Carvers'  Association,  In- 
ternational, 24,  87,  89,  loi,  i6g. 

Wood,  Wire  and  Metal  Lathers' 
International  Union,  38,  52,  53, 
69,  99,  123. 

Wood  Workers'  International 
Union,  Amalgamated,  122 
(note),  140. 


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ix 


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NOTES  SUPPLEMENTARY  TO  THE  STUDIES  IN  HISTORY  AND  POLITICS. 

PRICE  OF  THESE  NOTES,  TEN  CENTS  EACH. 

Municipal   Government  in  England.     By  Dr.   Albert  Shaw. 
Social  Work  in  Australia  and  London.     By  William  Grey. 
Encouragement  of  Higher  Education.     By  Prof.  H.  B.  Adams. 
The  Problem  of   City   Government.     By   Hon.   Seth   Low. 
The  Libraries   of  Baltimore.     By   Dr.    P.    R.    Uhler. 
Work  Among  the  Workingwomen  of  Baltimore.     By  Prof.  H.  B.  Adams. 
Charities:   The  Relation  of  the  State,   the  City,  and  the  Individual  to  Modern  Philan- 
thropic Work.     By  Dr.  A.  G.  Warner. 
Law  and  History.     By  Dr.  Walter  B.   Scaife. 

The  Needs  of  Self-Supporting  Women.     By  Miss  Clara  db  Graffbnbbid. 
Early  Presbyterianism  in  Maryland.     By  Rev.  J.  W.  McIlvain. 

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Disturbing  Elements  in  the  Study 

and  Teaching  of  Political 

Economy 

By  JAMES  BONAR 

M.A.  (Oxford),  LLT>.  (Glasgow) 
156  Pages.  I2mo.  Cloth.  $1.00 


This  volume  consists  of  five  lectures  delivered  at 
tlie  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  the  spring  of  1910  by 
Dr.  James  Bonar,  the  distinguished  English  economist 
now  filling  the  office  of  Deputy  Master  of  the  Royal 
Mint,  Ottawa. 

As  the  title  suggests,  the  lectures  are  discourses 
not  on  economic  error  in  general,  but  on  the  more 
subtle  fallacies  which  are  apt  to  invade  the  reasoning  of 
trained  economists  in  spite  of  learning  and  discipline. 
Such  errors  creep  in  from  a  popular  political  philosophy 
(Lecture  I),  from  want  of  any  political  philosophy  (II), 
from  mistaken  aversion  to  theory  (III),  from  the  short- 
comings of  common  or  technical  language  (IV),  and 
from  the  wrong  handling  of  distinctions  of  time  (V). 

The  lectures  are  distinguished  by  the  scholarly 
tone  and  philosophical  breadth  that  characterize  Dr. 
Bonar's  writings. 

Orders  should  be  sent  to 

The  Johns  Hopkins  Press, 

Baltimore,  Maryland 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

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